dimland radio 3-14-15 show notes

5 Years!

I have been doing this show for five year! It's hard to believe I've managed to think of something most every week. I say most, because there were a couple few week's a didn't do a show, but let's not get bogged down in details. 

I've done 224 shows in those five years. That doesn't include the 30 plus music only shows I did back when Z Talk Radio had the license to play music by signed artists. Boy, those music shows were fun, but without license. I don't need to go into the details, do I?

In five years I have interviewed a handful of people. Not many, but I did get to talk to George Hrab and Ben Radford.

Will the show last another five years? Will I ever have another guest? Will I ever have more than two listeners? Will I ever get it on iTunes?

Stayed tuned.  

Scooby Doo & In Search Of...

I reminded my two listeners that the first skeptical topic I address on that first show was the cartoon 'Scooby Doo, Where Are You?' It was the introduction to skepticism for a lot of kids in the late 60s and 70s. The g-g-ghost never turned out to be an actual ghost. It was always some person pulling a scheme of one sort or another.

I also mentioned In Search Of.. That was the credulous show which "investigated" the unknown and unexplained. It was the forerunner and template setter of all those mystery-mongering shows that are so plentiful on cable.

In the day, I lapped up the nonsense that host Leonard Nimoy delivered with such a straight face and no hint of irony. What a great actor he was.

When I watch In Search Of... now I'm far less impressed by the bullshit, but I still like the show so much. Oh, well. Chalk it up to the duality of man.

Vaccination In The Courts

Two stories in the news about vaccines in the courts. In Germany, a biologist, Stefan Lanka, had issued a challenge with an award of 100,000 euro to anyone who could demonstrate that measles is caused by a virus and is not psychosomatic as he believes it to be. A Germany doctor provided the evidence and claimed the prize. Lanka refused to pay. The case went to court and the court found that Lanka needed to pay up.

In America, the US Court of Federal Claims, after studying three test cases of claims that vaccination was causing autism, has found that the evidence does not support a causal connection. This is good news as science has long maintained that autism is not caused by vaccines or the mercury that has not been in most vaccines for years.

Kinda Busy

I related that I've been a bit busy lately. I'm writing blogs for Stuck In The 80s, I'm going to start blogging for the Nostalgia Zone, I have a forward to write for a friend's graphic novel, and there's a special podcast that has just been released (after I did this show) that I'll talk more about next week. Plus I have a couple art projects that I need to get done.

But you can listen to that episode of Assault of the 2-Headed Space Mules right now! And you can read my latest Never Found piece by going here.

Playlists On YouTube

I have been trying out the playlist option on my channel at YouTube. So far I've put to playlists together. One is of Pete Townshend songs that might not be as well know and the other is a list of songs that were played at First Avenue on their Club Degenerate nights.

I talked a bit about my days hanging out at First Avenue of those Club Degenerate nights. There were unusual people who would hang on there as well as the occasional appearances of the Fuckin' Shit Biscuits that could be quite fun. Noisy and messy, but fun.

A Tale Of Art School

I used to do some fairly violent or weird doodles on the tabletops of the art school I attended years ago. One day I ran afoul of the art history teacher who took issue of one of my doodles depicting a woman bending over backward. The teacher looked past the violent imagery I had drawn, because those involved men. And she didn't object to the phallic images that might have shown up doodled by other students. I wasn't the only doodler.

But that bent over woman, apparently bent her out of shape. She gave me a talking to after class in the common room as students passed by. I don't remember my initial reaction, but I did do a write up voicing my concern of the double standard.

By that I mean, my design class had just gone to see a German Expressionist exhibit at one of the local museums. Fellow students and the instructor directed my attention to one particular artist whose work my doodles resembled. The artist was Otto Dix. So, I made the point in my written protest that Dix hangs in a museum while I get shit.

Movie Recommendation: None

You are on your own this week. Sorry.

 

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: 'One Day in Your Life' by 54-40 & 'One Step Ahead' by Split Enz
Second ad break bumpers: 'One Day' By The Church & 'One At A Time' by The Who

Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle

That's it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.

concert memoirs pt. 42 - babes in toyland & johnny thunders

Babes In Toyland (Minneapolis band)

At first, I wasn't sure of my memories of this band, but I was able to get a hold of John and he confirmed what I remember. When we saw them, Babes In Toyland had four members. They had a lead singer. Kat Bjelland played guitar and did backing vocals.

While John and I were hanging out at First Avenue every Tuesday for the Club Degenerate dance nights, we got to know a woman named Cindy Russell. Cindy was also a regular of Club Degenerate. She would be out on the dance floor before the night really got going, dancing to whatever Kevin Cole was playing. She was very theatrical in her dancing as she made use of the nearly empty dance floor. She twirled and jumped and threw her scarves in the air for dramatic effect. She even did a couple on stage dance cameos for Club Degenerate.

This is Cindy Russell. She gave me this picture way back in the late 80s.

John and I became familiar faces to her and she began to come over to talk to us. She'd bum a cigarette from John and, soon, John and I became her ride home. Not every Tuesday, but many of them, John would see her move from group to group, looking for a ride. She'd end up with us.

One night, she told us that she was in a band. She introduced us to the bass player. I'm not absolutely sure, but I think it was Michelle Leon. And I think I bummed a cigarette from her.

Cindy told us that her band would be doing a cameo during an upcoming Club Degenerate. So, John and I were right up front to check them out. They were introduced as Babes In Toyland and Cindy was their lead singer.

They were pretty rough and Cindy didn't have the best voice. One song was called 'X Means Danger', I think. Another song dealt with a father molesting his daughter. Pretty cheery stuff, eh?

Cindy's involvement in the band didn't last long. The Babes as a quartet had produced a demo tape that they sent on to Steve Albini. Albini was in the bands Big Black and, later, Shellac. He also produced records, most notably Pixies' 'Surfer Rosa' and Nirvana's 'In Utero'. So, he was kind of a big deal.

Cindy told us that he listened to the demo and advised them to get rid of the singer. He said her voice was "too husky". So it was goodbye to Cindy. She got the boot.

Babes In Toyland soon became big stars as a three piece band. I guess Albini was right.

There you have it. Babes In Toyland was once, however briefly, a four piece band. And you won't find this info anywhere else.

Johnny Thunders (Glam/punk rock legend)

This was probably one of those special Club Degenerate concert nights. But, since I don't have a ticket stub, I can't be certain.

I didn't know much about Johnny Thunders at the time. I think I knew about his involvement with the New York Dolls and his big solo tune 'Chinese Rock'. I did know he was pretty important to the punk scene.

He wore what looked like silk pajamas, as he playfully engaged in insulting the audience. He'd make some disparaging comment about the audience. We would give him the finger or yell, "F@$k you!" It was so punk rock.

John and I also had the honor of standing next to one very big Johnny Thunders fan. It was Paul Westerberg (of The Replacements, as if you didn't know). It was Paul who wrote the prophetic song 'Johnny's Gonna Die' about Thunders. It wasn't long after this show when Johnny did, in fact, die.

concert memoirs pt. 21 - the godfathers, robyn hitchcock & the egyptians & the church

The Godfathers w/The Nils

3/28/88 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $6.00

“This damn nation! Frustration!”

An excellent song that I first heard during a Club Degenerate night at First Avenue. Great guitar. Nice and angry.

They put on a good show. They were very tight and very rockin’. Their lead singer was full of the tough guy attitude. He pulled it off, though I would say that it came close to seeming a bit put on.

They did an excellent cover of The Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen.

What do I remember of the opening band The Nils? Nil.

Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians
4/11/88 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: Unknown

Robyn sang, Robyn blinked, Robyn told amusing anecdotes. Robyn was great.

The Church w/54-40
6/21/88 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $12.00

The night before this show, The Church played at the Guthrie Theater. I couldn’t afford to go to both shows, but John could. John always had more money than me. Always. I mean, twelve bucks to see them at First Avenue was a bit on the spendy side. I was working at Wendy’s and John was working for the county, so he was making way more money than I was.

The show at the Guthrie was used to film the video for their song Reptile. They started filming early. The idea was they would film early with an audience then head off and 54-40 would play. After that, The Church would come back out and play their set.

As it turned out, the filming took so long that 54-40 had to be bumped. So, John didn’t get to see one of the best bands that Canada ever produced. He would have to wait until the next night.

When you watch the video for Reptile on the YouTube, you now know that it was filmed at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. The old theater, they recently built a new one in downtown Minneapolis.

John and I headed out to First Avenue the next night to see both bands. Again, at First Avenue we could get a closer look at the bands then was possible at the Guthrie. 54-40 came out and entertained us with their leftist, socialist, antigun, pro-Sandinista songs. Politics aside, they were really good.

The Church took the stage in promotion of their latest album, Starfish. Incidentally, it’s my opinion that that was their last decent effort. Something happened to them after that. They seemed to lose their touch. They would have a good song here and there, but no good cohesive album effort.

So, anyway...

I always enjoyed watched Marty Wilson-Piper play. He had the most rock star attitude of the band. While watching him, I saw how he achieved that cool effect on their song Destination, the opening track on Starfish. He would turn the volume down on his guitar, strum a chord and then turn the volume up. He did this three or so times very quickly at the proper point of the song.

The Church was also the first band I’d ever seen that used a certain device on their guitar to achieve a particular sound. Instead of strumming, Marty and Peter would hold some sort of something to the strings while fingering the frets. My guess is that the device must have vibrated the strings. The Church did such neat things back then.

This was the last really good show John and I would see of them.

concert memoirs pt. 14 - husker du & red lorry yellow lorry

Husker Du w/Man-sized Action

3/31/86 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $6.00

Here is the fourth time that John and I had seen Husker Du. With the exception of the first time and the last time seeing the band, the shows are all a blur of sonic assault, slam dancing & sweat. I’ve already talked about the first show and the last show I will go over soon.

I’m going to relate two stories that occurred at Husker Du shows. I’m sure that one of these events happened at this show, but I can’t say for sure that both did. One or the other may have occurred at a previous show.

Before I go into those stories I want to let you know that one of my sources for this series, other than my or other’s memories, is the website for the Minnesota Historical Society. At this link - http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00233.html - you will find a listing of most of the acts that played First Avenue and the 7th Street Entry from 1981 to 1998.

The list isn’t complete and is, in some cases, incorrect. I’m not sure of the reason for the errors. It may be because of last minute changes or some such.

I say this because I don’t remember Man-sized Action opening that night. That’s not so unusual, but my recollection is that Man-sized Action had broken up before then. Man-sized Action was a local band that had two really good records, ‘Claustrophobia’ and ‘Five Story Garage’, but I’m sure they weren't together at that time. I would see members Tippy and Pat Woods hanging out at First Avenue, but I don’t remember seeing the band until later at a reunion show.

So, the two stories related to Husker Du shows. First. My custom at the punk rock shows had been to watch the band for the first song or two, then pocket my glasses and jump into the pit. On this occasion I was a little slow in getting my glasses into my pocket, I got bumped and dropped them.

If you wear glasses I’m sure you know that feeling of panic when you lose them. Especially if your eyesight is as bad as mine. I immediately stopped, looked down and spotted them at my feet. Phew! I picked them up, put them on... they were not my glasses!! What are the odds? Not that big I suppose.

I spotted a fellow holding up a pair of glasses that turned out to be mine. Then I saw another fellow who appeared to be searching for his glasses, which I had. Everyone got the glasses back, undamaged. Phew! Again.

The second story I have is my bumper story. A bumper is the person who stands at the perimeter of the slam dance pit (I refuse to call it “mosh”. Call me old.) and acts as a bumper. He helps keep slammers from banging into the folks who don’t want to do any slam dancing. Whenever I got too exhausted to go on (goon?), I would do the bumper thing.

At one of the Husker Du shows I attended, I was acting as a bumper when two punkers came barreling around in what I referred to as a “helicopter”. That’s where the two morons link arms and whirl each other around and knock several people down and piss everyone off.

I was so annoyed by the helicopter move that I decided I'd had enough of these asshats. As they came around to where I was standing and started to pass by me, I grabbed both and, using their momentum, rushed them right up the stage where they dropped to the floor. I went back to my spot and the fellow standing next to me patted me on the back and said, “Good job.”

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry w/Crime the City Solution
4/21/86 First Avenue w/John & Cindy Ticket Price: $5.00

Cindy was a women John and I had met while hanging out at the Club Degenerate nights at First Avenue. We eventually got to know her. John figured she would hang around with us mainly because he would give her a ride home. At the end of the night, he would watch her go around to other people she knew, person by person, group by group, until she would get to us and we’d give her a lift home.

I think I’ll write a separate blog about Cindy. She deserves one.

Anyway, I mention Cindy because she was with us for this show. She had been to other shows that John and I had been to at First Avenue, but this is the only one at which she joined us to watch the band. We probably gave her a ride home that night.

Cindy was rather taken with The Lorries’ lead singer. She thought he was “sooo English”. Cheerio, pip, pip, I say! Tally ho!

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry had a very commanding presence. They gave the appearance of being rough and dangerous (and English, according to Cindy). They put on a good show, even if they didn’t play ‘Spinning Around’. That must have been very upsetting to one fellow at the show, because he kept calling for the band to play it.

Shame, I would have enjoyed hearing the song myself.