the vibrators

i saw the vibrators on october 1, 2012 at legendary dobbs in philly.

this is one of those catching up posts that i'm going to have to get used to since i was lazy and neglectful for so long.

the idea of doing this one first was brought on because i'm wearing the t-shirt i got at that show today and it's raised some eyebrows, pretty much every time i wear it. especially today, i think i scared the guy that works at the ten thousand villages near me. he always likes my t-shirts but was not expecting this one.

ANYWAY. so, technically, i can say "i saw the vibrators at a tiny bar in philly!" but, did i really see the vibrators? this has been their line-up for years but it's not the classic one. knox, the voice of the vibrators, is missing. i knew he wouldn't be there going into it, but it's still kinda disappointing. that being said - it was a really good time and they still kick ass. there were a few opening bands, and they were ok, but it kinda sucked standing through all of them, especially when i was there by myself, and everyone else there all seemed to know each other.

so, here is my sort of cute vibrators story: between bands, eddie (the only original member, who just happens to be the drummer) was sitting behind the merch table, and standing next to the table was pete (i like to call him "new guy" but that's not really fair, and also he's really fucking cool, so yay for pete...ok he's also like really good looking so there's that, but whatever, ok?). so they're both at the table and i want to buy the aforementioned shirt; eddie is actually dozing off in his seat. this is going well...pete had to hit his arm to wake him up. i said "i'd like the whips and furs shirt in a small, please." it was $15; i gave him a twenty. then it got silly. he couldn't find change; i guess he misplaced all the merch money, which is really not funny, but i'm assuming they found it eventually. i stood there for a while as he fumbled around, looking in his backpack, other bags, under the table, etc. it was like a scene from a comedy movie that goes on for way too long but you're still laughing at the end of it. i was pretty much ready to say "keep the $5!" which, in hindsight, i should have done sooner. meanwhile, pete is just shaking his head and finally pulls out his wallet, takes five ones out and hands them to me, with an apologetic smile and shake of the head. poor eddie. still, kind of a fun story to tell.

as far as the actual show: they did "automatic lover" and "baby baby" so i was happy. they did a bunch of other songs off of pure mania which is one of those cds that i will put in my car and then have to force myself to take it out months later. for real. so, can we just talk about "baby baby" for a second? seriously - i would marry someone if they serenaded me with that song. ever since i first heard it, i thought it was the perfect love song. punk rock, for sure, but with lyrics like:

ah, your eyes are so pretty, and the clothes you wear they're so fine
oh won't you come around to my place, just wanna use up a little of your time

hello, doesn't that make you just fucking swoon like a little teenybopper girl?
it was definitely lacking a little something without knox singing, but still a really fucking great live moment for me. i was surrounded by a bunch of people all singing along. it was like heaven. HEAVEN I SAY. i had a lovely time all around. we were going to catch them when we were in england but they were playing somewhere really far from london and it would have been really expensive to get there (as well as take all day). not worth it, sadly. but, for $5 and a relatively short car ride away? totally, 110% worth it.

also - fun fact - the band stiff little fingers took their name from the vibrators song of the same name. it's also on pure mania. have you bought it yet? what is taking you so long? and jeez, this is the second time i've mentioned the fingers without talking about seeing them, i should really do an update about all their shows i've gone to.

here are the vibrators in a really shitty phone picture that i took while being jostled around because punk shows are about shouting and dancing, not taking fancy pixxx.

england, part 1: intro + john cooper clarke

i'm still trying to catch up on some of the stuff i've done in the years that i've neglected my sad little blog. so, uh, i went to england last year! i've been there once before, when i was around 15 or 16, and i was in the girl scouts. yes, yes, go on and laugh, but fuck you, because i got to go to england on the girl scouts' dime. so there. and my sister was with me and we had a ton of fun being idiot tourists and i was constantly getting in trouble with our troop leaders. boy did they hate me. i know that for a fact because one of them is my brother-in-law's aunt and she has specifically said what a troublemaker i was back then. but i digress.

so: england! i will spare you the personal details because i went with my boyfriend at the time (chris); we are no longer together because we basically made each other miserable and i'm pretty sure it started on this trip. it was so bad, i very nearly had a nervous breakdown the one night we were there. so, i decided to go to england for a 3 day punk festival in bath and had already gotten my passport in order and purchased a plane ticket, etc. chris didn't want me to go alone, which i was planning on doing, so he got all his shit together and that was that.

the festival was called the last jubilee, set to go off on the queen's jubilee weekend. huzzah. i found out the day i was leaving that the festival was cancelled.
WHAT. I JUST SPENT HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS ON A FUCKING PASS AND A PLANE TICKET AND YOU CANCELLED THE FUCKING FESTIVAL.
here are the names i was most excited about from the lineup, so you can see why i was so upset:
BUZZCOCKS
HUGH CORNWELL
THE SELECTER
CHELSEA
GLEN MATLOCK
THE DAMNED
U.K. SUBS
THE VIBRATORS
TV SMITH
EDDIE & THE HOT RODS
THE REZILLOS
999
ALTERNATIVE TV
JOHN COOPER CLARKE

and that's not even the whole lineup. so yeah. we decided to go anyway and i looked up all of those bands and tried to find some other shows they would be playing in the few days we would be there so we could maybe see a fraction of the festival.

i don't really hate flying; in fact, i think taking off and landing is kind of fun. the idea of being over an ocean for like 7 hours freaks me out a little bit, but what are you going to do? that being said, OH MY GOD. have you ever been in a plane for that long? it sucks. i mean, it's pretty magical that i can get on a plane in newark, nj and get off the same plane in london. but those seats are the most uncomfortable pieces of shit and it was absolutely impossible to sleep, so by the time we got there i was delirious.

skip ahead to the fun stuff: the first day we didn't do anything except wander aimlessly, find a hotel room, and get into our first fight. then i slept for about 10 hours. it was delightful. the next day i checked my list of bands and performers from the festival. john cooper clarke was going to be performing at a library at some kind of literary festival in stoke newington. only problem? we couldn't figure out where the fuck stoke newington was. but we ended up there somehow only to find out that it was sold out. lovely. we went inside and talked to the woman taking tickets and she said someone might sell their tickets back, and in that case, we were welcome to buy them and see the show. i left my cell number with her and left feeling pretty deflated. we wandered down the street and found a record store which cheered me up a bit, especially when the guy working there put on some elvis costello. i bought magazine - real life; killing joke - killing joke; and jesus &  mary chain - automatic. when i was checking out, the guy at the register told me that the magazine record was one of his all time favorite records. anyway, so i left feeling like that trip to stoke newington wasn't a total bust. we walked back towards the venue and chris insisted on asking one more time. he went up to a different girl and asked if there were any tickets available. you know what she said? she said yes.

SHE SAID YES.

someone had just returned 2 tickets. we ran inside to the ticket lady who shouted "i was just about to call you!" we paid for the tickets and got a seat up in the balcony. another guy was talking first and reading selections from his autobiography; simon day was his name. i enjoyed his stories as well.

oh wait. do you know who john cooper clarke is? most people don't (unless you're british), and i think that is a shame. he's a punk rock poet!

watch/listen to this; this is the very first john cooper clarke i was introduced to (this track was on a punk compilation cd i bought when i was in england the first time; full circle, eh?)
then watch this. this is what it's like when he is accompanied by music.
then this, probably his most well-known poem.
then this because holy shit you guys, how awesome is this man?

so, we're sitting in the balcony, and it really hit me: i am in england and i am about to witness a performance by the one and only jcc...i felt a little woozy. he doesn't ever come to the states, so i felt really lucky to be there. the festival was cancelled, but i still get to see this guy!

he was just as fabulous as i hoped he would be. he was really silly and so adorable, with his teeny tiny pants and huge hair and sunglasses. it was everything i hoped it would be. he didn't do "kung fu international" which was a little upsetting, because like i said before, that was the first thing of his i was ever introduced to. and he didn't do "i married a monster from outer space," which is also kind of a bummer. but of course he did "evidently chickentown" and he did "hire car" and he did one that was new, about hawaiian shirts, or "tiki shirts." it was hilarious, and every time i see someone in one of those shirts i want to shout "NEVER BRIGHTEN MY DOOR AGAIN!" but then everyone would just think i'm crazy. i still giggle to myself when i think about that show. we were really lucky to get in to see him and i will never forget that night.

i'll continue this in another post because this one is already way too long.

here is my sad and shitty picture from the literary festival; i only took one picture because it was dark and i didn't want to annoy everyone by taking a million pictures, but i didn't really look as i was taking it and so the camera auto-focused on the railing which is why john is just a blurry little stick man. but you can totally tell that it's him.

Hugh Cornwell Adventures, Part 2

OH HEY maybe i should start doing one post per year as a thing, since that seems to be what i'm doing anyway. or maybe i could step up my game and actually write about stuff as it happens to me. *smrt*

so, i last wrote about mr. cornwell and how he gave me his email address so i could send him some songs of mine. i protected that piece of paper - which hugh AND clem both signed, and had his email on the back - like it was my child. now it's framed and hanging up above my couch. i smile like a dork every time i look at it, and that is not hyperbole.

i emailed him a couple of songs that i thought he might like, along with a refresher on who i was, which was kind of embarrassing: "remember me? i sat on your lap for a bit?" well, he remembered and he liked the songs. HE LIKED THE SONGS. do you know what that means to me? oh, that made me so happy. so, following that, we become pen pals. what is the email equivalent of pen pals? keyboard pals? whatever. we email each other. it's pretty cool.

next part of the story: i have a friend who lives in arizona, just outside phoenix. he's one of my best friends and he bugs me to come out and visit him a lot. i had gone the previous year for a few days and was planning on going out again that year (2011), probably in march since that's when he says the weather is the best, even though the year before it rained every day. i just happened to be looking at hugh cornwell's tour dates for that year and he was going to be in phoenix in march. it was easy enough to plan my trip around that and tell my friend "so we can do whatever you want for the rest of the days i'm here but THIS NIGHT we are going to see hugh cornwell in phoenix and you can't say no." and that's what happened.

my friend has a job as a dueling pianist (i'll wait for you to stop laughing; i laughed for about ten minutes the first time he told me that). that night, he had to work and then we went straight to the george & dragon pub for the show. normally i'm completely entertained by the dueling pianist thing but this night it couldn't be over fast enough. finally we got there, i texted hugh, yes i did, i know, how cool is that? and he said "i'm out in the bus" so i went out and found him and he gave me a hug and was like "i can't believe you're here!" me neither, sir. me neither.

anyway, the set was basically the same as the last time i saw him. they open with "nice 'n' sleazy" and do a bunch of stranglers hits mixed with his solo stuff, then rattus all the way through. it was phenomenal, even when fish (bassist extraordinaire) went into "grip" instead of "peaches." i called my sister and kept her on the phone for those 2 songs. i think she liked it, once she figured out what the hell she was hearing. too soon it was over, but i still get to hang out with old punkers!

hugh shared a bottle of champagne with me while i sat sandwiched between him and fish in a booth. i couldn't even make this stuff up. the only thing that would have made it better was if clem was sitting with us but he was chatting with fans on his own. ah well. so i got to sit there, feeling like a little punk rock princess while fans came by to talk and shake hands and etc.

i proceeded to get really drunk and got in the tour bus with them (finally was acknowledged by clem, who gave me a weird smile as if to say "i remember you from philly, what the fuck are you doing here, you crazy girl?" but maybe it was just a friendly smile) and then i got to listen to the demos of the new album (totem and taboo) and he played me some other music and whatever, and that was basically it. got a cab back to my friend's place after.

the point of this story is mostly so i don't forget everything cool that happens to me, which happens more often than you would think, but also to share how neat these guys are. not one of them treated me like i was some stupid, young girl; they treated me like i was just another person hanging out with them. that might not sound like a big deal, but if you've ever been talked down to by someone, whether it's because you're younger than they are, or because they're a MAN and you're just a girl, you know why this is so important.

anyway blah blah blah this is me being a fan girl blah blah blah that's my story. i'll post part three soon. maybe right now, after i finish writing it, since i have nothing better to do.

Hugh Cornwell Adventures

HELLO. it's certainly been a while. also no one reads this so i'm sure no one missed me. but i missed writing in here. so i wanted to catch up on all the amazing shows i've been to and all the amazing music i've been listening to.

i'm going to start off with hugh cornwell (aka ex-lead singer of the stranglers).

i have always loved the stranglers, since i first listened to my punk compilation i bought in london when i was a little teenager. it had "(get a) grip (on yourself)" and "peaches" on it. i bought more of their stuff over the years but never really...understood them? maybe? they're more sophisticated than most punk bands, and their later stuff is much different than the first few albums. also i was painfully unaware of his solo catalogue. it's intense, people.

so, er...i can't believe how long it's actually been. september 2010, he did a show in philly. so that summer, i was sort of getting into the stranglers again and finally, i would like to think, understanding them. and i was online, checking out venues around philly to see if anything cool was coming up. i think i was even listening to black & white at the time, as that was basically all i was listening to those days. and there it was, at world cafe, hugh cornwell. i kind of leaped off the bed in excitement, and then went back and re-read it to make sure i wasn't hallucinating.

i went to the show, and not only did i get to see hugh cornwell play 2 sets - the first was stranglers hits and some of his solo work, and the second was the first stranglers album, rattus norvegicus, from start to finish - he had CLEM BURKE drumming for him. do you know who this is? do you know what that means to this nerdy drummer girl? the drummer from blondie. holy shit people. the man is a genius.

right, so yeah, the entire first album. huh. i nearly shat myself. it was seriously cool. the combination of stranglers songs that i was in love with for so many years, with hugh cornwell singing them right in front of me, with one of the most amazing drummers of all time, was enough to make my head spin.

as if that wasn't cool enough, hugh then sat at a table after the show to sign things and sell cds and chat with fans. i went over and my superpowers of being AMAZINGLY AWKWARD AND SHY came out. but when hugh saw me, he said, "oh hello, would you like to come sit on my lap?" all the fanboys glared at me, but i did it anyway. HOW DARE I INTERRUPT THEM TELLING HIM HOW MANY TIMES THEY SAW HIS BAND IN THE 80s??? the angry glares were worth it.

i ended up in some pictures, as people were asking to get their pictures taken with him, and he said "only if she's in them too." so, hi, people who took their picture with hugh and have to look at my dumb face also. sorry about that. but you don't just give up opportunities like that. you would have done the same thing if you were me, and you know it.

we talked for a bit, about normal things. like jazz, which is what he likes to listen to, especially when doing chores around the house. like ironing. i'm not sure if that's adorable or sad. imagining this punk rock icon humming along to jimmy smith and ironing his socks. i still don't know. and i said something about being in a band but of course i didn't bring a cd to give to him, so he gave me his email address (!!!!!) and said to email him some songs.

i have waaaaaay more to add to the whole story but i will leave you with this little anecdote from this night.

clem burke walked by at one point while i was sitting on hugh's lap still, and hugh says, "hey clem, this is chloe. she's a drummer, too."

clem: looks me up and down. "oh yeah? let me see your drumming calluses."

me: has a mild heart attack. holds hands out to clem.

clem: takes my hands, looks them over. "huh. nice." and walks away.

end scene of one of the top ten greatest moments of my life.

the damned

last night was BRILLIANT. as an early birthday present, my sister took me to see the the damned. i love this band. love them. as i was watching them play, i couldn't help thinking about how legendary they are, and here they are, right in front of me. legends! wow. i have actually seen them once before, but it was on that tour that was them, and the dickies and the misfits, and it was a while ago...i remember being impressed then also, but for some reason last night i was just totally blown away. also, they really shouldn't call themselves the misfits anymore..."misfit" would be more appropriate, seeing as jerry only is the only member of the band. whatever. so the damned! they opened with "love song." hell yes. and they closed with "smash it up." FUCK YES. they couldn't have picked a more perfect song to close with. and they had to do "new rose" and "neat neat neat" of course. captain sensible looked smashing as always, with the white plastic sunglasses and red beret, and tight leopard skin pants. dave looked like a mad scientist. and monty looked like...well...monty. ha. it was a really great time, and unfortunately the place didn't look as packed as i would have imagined that it would. i couldn't believe more people weren't there, but what can you do. and can i just talk about how much i love dave's voice? it's so unique, and deep and smooth...i guess not typically what you would assume a punk rock singer's voice to sound like, but that's what i love so much about it i guess.

these are my personal top 5 damned songs, and sorry that i already sort of gave a few of them away...

1. smash it up - starts off with a cool, sort of dreamy intro, and then kicks into this freaking amazing song...ahhh...if you have never listened to the damned, this would be a great song to start with.
2. i think i'm wonderful - this song rocks, obviously, but the lyrics made me smile the first time i ever heard the song, and they still make me smile to this day. "some stupid opinions on the way that i am, they can look at me and i don't give a damn, damn, damn." it's the perfect FUCK YOU song to people who think you dress weird, or act weird, or whatever. basically, my theme song.
3. wait for the blackout - well...what can i say...i just really love this song.
4. love song - it's just that, a love song, but certainly not a typical one. you should just listen to it.
5. **TOTAL COP OUT WARNING** the entired DAMNED DAMNED DAMNED album. told you it was a cop out. but honestly, my number five would have to be one from this album, but how can you pick only one? honestly the whole things kicks so much ass from beginning to end. i mean, i love new rose, but who doesn't? i also love born to kill, and so messed up, and see her tonite, and stab your back...you get my point, right? this was the first damned album i owned and it's hard to move past it because it's just so good. i wish i could have heard it when it first came out though, when there was nothing else that sounded anything like it...can you imagine hearing that in 1977? i feel like i missed out! there was so much great stuff happening in the 70s. oh well.

anyway, in case you haven't got the point yet - the damned are amazing! go see them if you ever get the chance, you won't regret it.