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Asshole Santa: 2009

….would you believe that PBR is going to give serious $$$$ to PAWS Atlanta next year if we keep this up?

My Personal Faves For 2009

The Mantles – all (especially the Siltbreeze LP)
Mayyors – Deads EP (Mt. St. Mtn.)
Billy Bao – May 08 (Parts Unknown) and Sacrilege (Afterburn)
Twin Stumps – self titled 12" (Dais)
Wizard Smoke – Live Rock In Hell (www.wizardsmoke.net)
H•O•F – Gay Witch Abortion Demos (AmRep)
Home Blitz – Out of Phase (Ritchie)
Double Dagger – More (Thrill Jockey)
Om – Live Conference (Important)
Baroness – Blue Record (Relapse)
White Wires – reissue (Douchemaster)
Hex Dispensers – Winchester Mystery House (Douchemaster)
Pride ParadeDose (self released)
Polvo – In Prism (Merge)
Cheap Trick – The Latest (self released)
Part Chimp – Thriller (Rock Action)
Circulatory System – Signal Morning (Cloud)
Shit and Shine – Girls Against Shit (Riot Season)
Obits – I Blame You (Sub Pop)
Drunkdriver – Knife Day (Fan Death)
Pigeon Religion – all
Wooden Shjips – all
The Fresh & Onlys – all
Ty Segall – all
anything on Captured Tracks, Trouble in Mind, Douchemaster and Siltbreeze

…..stone cold “classic”

Reissues:
Big StarKeep An Eye On The Sky (Rhino)
The Jesus LizardAll (T&G)
The Ex30 (Ex)
Sun RaR&B reissues (Norton)
Chris BellI Am The Cosmos (Rhino)
JawboxFor Your Own Special Sweetheart (DeSoto)
Volcano Suns – both reissues (Merge)
Pylon
Chomp (DFA)
Feelies – reissues (Bar/None)
Nirvana
Bleach (Sub Pop)
DeathFor The Whole World To See (Drag City)
Bill FoxShelter From The Smoke (Scat)
Betty Davisall (Light In The Attic)

Guaranteed to be in the Best of 2010:
Major StarsReturn To Form (Drag City)

Masterpiece? I think so.

Hipsters, Fuck Off With Your Sub-Par Predictable Rehash Bullshit Muzak Already:
Dirty Projectors
Grizzly Bear
Bear In Heaven
Health
The XX
Yacht
Japandroids
The Horrors
Passion Pit
Any group of dudes under 25 with beards

Lungfish – Baltimore 1991

So I did a really pleasant interview with a gentleman from the Chicago Reader yesterday about the Chris Thomson tape archive and he asked me about my own personal pack-rat proclivities. And you know what? I really don’t have many other than the tapes and records I have. Really. Honestly. I moved around so much that I whittled things down to the bare essentials.

And that takes me to this Lungfish live tape. When I lived in York, PA from ’87 to ’91, I went to DC, Philly and Baltimore A LOT for shows. I think I saw Lungfish around this time three times (I was obsessed with "Necklace of Skulls" at the time), and I don’t know why I recorded this particular show and not the others, but so be it.

After almost 20 years of keeping this out of circulation (and surveying people’s reactions from Twitter), I thought it about time to let people hear it. So here you go, Lungfish recorded off the board at the Hourhaus in Baltimore on June 5, 1991. I remember the venue was quite a dump, but the show itself was incredible.

Enjoy.

Lungfish – Baltimore 1991
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Tattoo Challenge Update!

The Stones said you can’t always get what you want, but just sometimes you get what you need. Well, I got what I needed!

After being thwarted TWICE by Laurent Lebec from Pelican for a tattoo that I designed and would pay for, I found somebody that was willing to get one of the designs!

c Joe Peery

Yes, that’s Chip and Dale. Dale is sitting on a magic toadstool smokin’ a J while his brother Chip is puking while holding a beer. To further add insult to Mr. Lebec’s injury, the smoke coming out of the joint spells out the name of his band. Overkill? Nah.

The lucky recipient is a friend and a recent transplant to Austin, Mr. Aaron Klein. This will be emblazoned onto his skin sometime before the new year. So thank you, Aaron!

Additionally, for the rest of his life, Aaron will be getting in for free to every Pelican gig he ever wants to attend. When you think about it, it’s really the least they can do.

Chunklet Hoodie! Limited Time Offer!

After many, many requests, I’m gonna put in another offer for these gems.

Unlike the first batch (from four years ago), these hoodies seem to really be quite durable.

Hoodie modeled by my neighbor Melissa.

Here’s the thing, they’re not cheap, but well, you get what you pay for. They’re hand stitched at Neighborhoodies on really heavyweight zip up sweatshirts. Very small (ladies S) to really big (XXXXL) is available but they DO seem to run a smidge small. And hey! We accept paypal!

So email me directly if you’re interested. Gonna only allow this offer for a couple weeks.

Circus Lupus ’90 Demo (#1)

Yes. I know. Another one of those "Holy shit!" moments from going through Chris Thomson’s tape archive which, thankfully, landed on my doorstep a couple months ago. And the only other part of the "Holy shit!" is that this is just one of TWO 1990 sessions by Circus Lupus that I have. The other is from August and will be unleashed at a later time.

The ironic thing, however, is that this version of the demo comes from an old tape trading buddy, Mark Stelmach, who had a significantly better fidelity version than Chris’s. So for that, thank you Mr. Stelmach.

c Pat Graham. Chris Thomson w/Circus Lupus ’92

We only get four songs in this particular demo while the other one has eight (2 of which are on the Cubist single).

Circus Lupus’s records still sound as absolutely incredible now as they did back then, but for some reason I just could never get into their live show. Then again, the last time I saw them was at the 40 Watt with about 8 people (*GULP!*) so that might’ve had something to do with it.

Anyway, I think this is an incredible find and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do in posting it for your listening pleasure.

Circus Lupus – Cat Kicking Jerk (DEC90 demo)
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Circus Lupus – Deviant Gesture (DEC90 demo)
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Circus Lupus – Mean Hot Blessed (DEC90 demo)
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Circus Lupus – Pulp (DEC90 demo)
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My Own 20 Most Surreal/Ironic/Hilarious Moments of 2009

1. My condolences as King Khan and BBQ got busted with narcotics in some shitsplat city in the South. My deeper sympathies to their tour manager who took the fall.
2. Being amazed by the indie-rock news cycle’s over-reaching attempts to keep Jay Reatard in the news who openly "fights" with his "fans" and journos regarding that as "news". Of course, when he urinates on one of his bandmates at Gonerfest, nobody notices. Come to think of it, I guess that’s pretty common…
3. REM’s newest double CD/DVD live release sold less than 2000 its first week while U2’s newest sold over one million. Ouch. That’s gotta suck.
4. The Beatles punishing fans by not selling the mono mixes of their records individually. Pricks.
5. Receiving a box of crazy CRAZY DC relics from Chris Thomson (CIrcus Lupus, Monorchid, Ignition, etc.) that I was neither expecting nor prepared for. Two unreleased sessions by Cupid Car Club? ‘Nuff sed.
6. I announced that I’d fight Manny Theiner for charity in his hometown for Pittsburgh. Obviously no response.
7. I also was willing to publicly debate Paste Magazine over their merit (versus Chunklet’s) and whether they deserve to have fundraiser benefits. Again, no response.
8. Record Store Day exclusive releases! LOVE!!!!!
9. Receiving a call from Corey Rusk asking to sell over 1500 records for him on eBay. I’m two months into it and I’ve barely made a dent!
10. Receiving a cease and desist email from Jenny Lens after posting a prank call that Black Randy (of his Metrosquad) made to her regarding her illicit activities in the late 70’s/early 80’s.

Easy Action at the Chunklet NXNE ’09 showcase!

11. Spending 3 hours chatting at NXNE in Toronto with John Brannon (Easy Action, Laughing Hyenas, Negative Approach) and having him close the discussion with "You’re my hero!".
12. The continued rise in popularity of Mississippi Records which, at least to my feeble noggin, seems like nothing more than a glorified bootleg label. By comparison, Numero Group is continually marginalized.
13. The Fugazi stage banter tape on chunklet.com. The only thing that can rival that is a sequel featuring all the Q&A’s from Bob Weston during Shellac gigs. Chance of that happening with their permission? Nil.
14. The Monsters of Folk. No mention of Pete Seeger anywhere and he could both play circles around them and actually be worthy of the moniker Monster of Folk unlike these young, white rich kids.
15. Watching Black Lips fans in Atlanta continue to morph into this mega-douchebag that I can’t even tolerate. And the Black Lips? They haven’t changed that much.
16. Preparing for the inevitable backlash against the Dum Dum Girls. Still anticipating same said backlash for Vivian Girls.
17. Being blown away (yet again) by Thirsty Moon Records in San Diego who cart INCREDIBLE vanity pressings of psych/garage records directly over from Tijuana and sell them for $17.99. GOD BLESS AMERICA!
18. Watching the cringeworthy decline of the once mighty Trail of Dead.
19. Buying the first two Monster Magnet singles from Mike Lavella who, ironically, was the person who first introduced me to them in the pages of MRR so many years ago.
20. Being allowed to introduce Fucked Up at ATP and then having three Irish jag bags ask me what my point was in singling out the Horrors for being less tolerable than having your nuts in a vice. Such is life.

Hell Bent For Stupid.

Tell me every shirtless, mulleted, dirtbag & every skezzy, future octomom, hairspray queen in the "classic footage" didn’t become a bloated, middle-aged, Glenn Beck Fan? Is there a "Glenn Beck Parking Lot"? And if not, there soon will be; as "parking lotting" has become quite the hip thang to film. The Chunklet Parking Lot would be 4 to 7 bitter guys hanging around outside a BBQ joint making retard jokes. (But they’d be funny jokes).

Free Shipping Until 2010!

Until next year, shipping on all orders on chunklet.com (at least domestically) is free!

Get on it!

Also, Asshole Santa is making an appearance at Criminal Records on December 12 with Crappy the Elf and Dave from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Should be a scream!

Having Fun With Fugazi On Stage

Y’know, it’s funny. Around 1990, I was convinced that there were no better live bands on the planet than Fugazi and The Jesus Lizard. And here it is almost 20 years later and I spent many a night following the latter across the planet (just like the ol’ days) and I got to have my post-teenager sentiments reinforced as I watched four men all hovering around fifty years old fucking sweep the floor with their younger counterparts asses on a nightly basis. No question about it.

One thing I didn’t particularly enjoy at these shows were the jag bags that were crowd surfing. I know, I know. I’m a fucking drag for saying that, but when Yow does it, he’s a professional. When some yahoo with lumberjack boots does it, people get clobbered in the noggin. Sorry, it’s the truth and it’s lame. But man, I remember Fugazi. I remember Fugazi telling people not to do it. And looking back on it, I think what a loving request it was. Even when I was 19 or 20, I’d deal with the jocks being violent, but Fugazi stood their ground and defended the majority of a crowd that wanted to enjoy themselves and not get injured in the process.

Ice cream eatin’ motherfuckers…

So it was with great pleasure when James Burns contacted me to tell me he had assembled a 40+ minute montage of Fugazi stage banter. And is it sad that I could name which shows some of the banter came from? That’s sad, right? Anyway….

Please enjoy and (if you’re old enough) remember how blissfully intense their shows were. God, when will ATP get FUGAZI to reunite?! I’ll be there, front and center.

Fugazi – Having Fun On Stage With Fugazi
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