7 Days of Sabbath! Day 7: Jack the Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots

I wanted to bring 7 Days of Sabbath and two weeks of celebrating the life and music of Ozzy Osbourne to a close with one of my favorite Sabbath songs (there are so many favorites!). Jack the Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots is such a great track. I'll never forget listening to the lyrics as a young stoner and thinking, "How can I see Fairies with boots on dancing with a dwarf?"

Luckily, I never quite got there. 

Tomorrow? Tomorrow our mourning ends. Let the celebration continue!

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7 Days of Sabbath! Day 6: Meglomania Live 1975

One of my all-time favorite Sabbath deep-cuts and among their best lyrics. Finding this blew me away in a week where I've been pretty blown away at what can be found on YouTube from the "Before Times."

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Watch:

The thumbnail image for Shudder's newest Shudder Original, Monster Island, instantly caught my eye with what appeared to be a Creature of the Black Lagoon-like monster. Here's the trailer:

What a fantastic concept - a U.S. soldier and a Japanese soldier stranded on an island during WWII have to overcome their differences to survive being stalked by a monster. I tried to find the time to watch this over the weekend, but most of my free 'watch' time has been spent enamored with The Sandman Season Two, so I'll get to this one later this week.

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Playlist:

Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin

Witchthroat Serpent - Trove of Oddities at the Devil's Driveway

Escape Driver - No Fate

Ennio Morricone - The Thing OST

John Carpenter - Prince of Darkness OST

John Carpenter - Big Trouble in Little China OST

Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services

Rein - Reincarnated

The Revolting Cocks - Attack Ships on Fire (single)

The Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers + Queers

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

Black Sabbath - Vol. 4

Ren - Vincent's Tale (single)

Aerosmith - Rocks

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Deafheaven - New Bermuda

Deftones - Koi No Yokan

Young Widows - Power Sucker

Young Widows - Settle Down City

King Woman - Doubt EP

Turnstile - GLOW ON

Blackbraid - Blackbraid I

Blackbraid - Blackbraid II

NIN - As Alive As You Need Me To Be (single)

NIN - Year Zero

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• XIX: The Sun

• Queen of Pentacles

• Six of Swords

Enlightenment and Emotional grounding make this a good time to make decisions. 

What decision to make, though? This caught me a bit unaware, so I'll have the cards on my desk throughout the day, reminding me to keep the reading's lesson in mind.

7 Days of Sabbath! Day 5: Into the Void Live 1971 (w/Alternate lyrics)

 HUGE props to blacksabfan for posting this. Head over to their YouTube page and check 'em out! Lots of great live and rare Sabbath videos (lots of Thin Lizzy, too!).

There are a number of Sabbath songs that started out with different lyrics than what Ozzy ended up recording. This is one I don't think I was aware of. 

There was a record store in Orland Park, IL when I was in High School. Red Tower. Located in the outer circumference of the Orland Mall's parkway, this standalone building carried with it for its south suburban location, the kind of cultural cache places like The Alley and Reckless Records did in the city (I'm aware The Alley wasn't a record store, but it was the most record store-like clothing/accessory store I've ever seen). Anyway, I already knew We Sold Our Souls For Rock 'n' Roll, the post-Sabotage Greatest Hits collection you could literally buy at gas stations in the late 80s/early 90s. While that introduced me to the first phase of Sabbath's music, it didn't prepare me for the second phase, those quasi-cinematic, philosophical Science Fiction-tinged tracks like Into the Void, the closer from 1971's Master of Reality. This song introduced a thread that, while "Supernaut" tugged on it again for Vol. 4, wasn't fully realized (IMO) until 1975's Sabotage, my favorite of the group's records and criminally underrated (and underrepresented on WSOSFR'n'R - I mean, how did they only add "Am I Going Insane?"). It was in Red Tower that I first heard Into the Void, and it literally made me stop, go up and ask the guy behind the counter what was playing. The song sounds like the soundtrack to a comic book or Science Fiction film, from the lyrics to the larger-than-life riffs. Instant favorite and the first inclination that I needed to move beyond the gas station greatest hits with this band. 

For the record, the alternate lyrics are not good. I mean, the actual lyrics to this track are amazing, and I'd be curious to read how the boys from Birmingham got to the finished product. It's still cool to hear this little slice of Sabbath history, though, and for some fantastic alternate lyrics to this song, there's always Soundgarden's cover from SOMMS.

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As we're getting close to the end of our celebration of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath (my daily, personal one has been with me since I was a teenager and will carry on until I too, reside After Forever), I wanted to throw in a little something extra for today's post. Melvins and Sleep's Al Cisneros covering Sabbath Bloody Sabbath!

Man, they made it slower! I guess if there was going to be one way to make this song heavier than when it was born, this would be the only way to approximate that. 

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7 Days of Sabbath! Day 4: Dirty Women Live 1978

Holy smokes! I NEVER expected to find my second favorite song from Black Sabbath's 1976 seventh studio album Technical Ecstasy live on YouTube, but I guess the algorithm is getting to know me these last two weeks and, what's more, actually do something useful, because this was literally waiting for me when I logged in just now to find a track to post.

Technical Ecstasy is unfairly maligned pretty much across the board, but I dig the entire record - yes! including "It's Alright," the Fleetwood Mac-esque track sung by Bill Ward. 

First favorite track is "You Won't Change Me," and it proves that keyboards were definitely not the downfall of the band. There are some thick-ass spooky vibes on this track, and I love it. But album closer Dirty Women - the LP's centerpiece, according to those wonderful liner NOTES I memorized long ago - is a close second. Sure, the lyrics on this record don't come anywhere near, say, Sabotage, but the music and arranging is fantastic and one of Ozzy's gifts was delivering vague or even goofy lyrics in a manner that made them feel, if not exactly profound, then inevitable. I've never listened to a Sabbath song and thought, 'awful lyrics' even if maybe sometimes they might be.

I really can't tell you how excited finding this has me.

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7 Days of Sabbath Day Day 3: Cornucopia Live 1973

Black Sabbath performing the criminally underrated "Cornucopia," one of my favorite tracks from 1972's Vol 4. 

This recording, which was apparently included in the Vol. 4 box set Rhino released a couple of years back, is fantastic! When I went looking for clean copies of this song live, I never dreamed this was out there. I guess I should have sprung for that box set!

Posted to YouTube by the aptly named R. Supernaut - go give this channel a browse and a follow. Lots of great tracks from Sabbath, Bowie, Danzig to name but a few. 

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Watch:

I had the honor to once again sit in on the Dread Broadcast, this time for their July recap panel discussion.

This aired live last night from 7:00 PM CST until 9:30 PM, but it's up in perpetuity and totally worth your time. So many great films and books covered, and we kicked it off with special guest Writer/Director/Actor Chris Riggi, whose new film Abduct blew both K and I away when we watched it this past Wednesday night.

This one has such a unique tone! Abduct is not a comedy, but it's funny in the way that a film about a group of friends undergoing an extremely messed-up situation can be funny. It's also not afraid to get a little mean and a lot Weird. This is currently a $2.99 rental on Prime and available for free on something called Fawesome. Either way, HIGHLY recommended. 

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Read:

A little bit of personal historical data. 

The first time I saw Ozzy Osbourne live was August 23, 1992. I would have been 16 years old. This was the "No More Tours" tour. Goddamn, do I wish I still had the concert t-shirt I picked up!

Edit this setlist | More Ozzy Osbourne setlists

Personally, I definitely could have done with more of the heavier No More Tears tracks, but the two they chose are favorites, so it's an even trade, as this would have also been the first time I ever heard any Sabbath songs performed live. I remember this show in a very vague way: I remember the World Music Theatre (now called something else) and the way the seats were, the lawn, the metal chicks who were, to my sixteen-year-old eyes, ravishing. I remember Ozzy and excitment of seeing him on stage, but I don't really remember the performance overall. Seeing this set list (thank the stars for Setlist.com. I mean, really), it all seems like a remember it, but I can't be sure I'm not just remembering the decades of knowing what Ozzy does live and grafting it atop the memory. Either way, Glad I went to this, which would have, I think, been my third concert ever.

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Playlist:

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

Black Pyramid - The Paths of Time are Vast

Comic Tropes - Marvel Cancelled FF Out of Spite

Deftones - Ohms

Windhand - Eternal Return

Black Sabbath Live Paris 1970

Goblin - 2013 Tour EP

Ennio Morricone - The Thing OST

Escape Driver - No Fate

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Queen of Cups

• Two of Wands

• XVI: The Tower

Deep emotional connection and a union of Wills lead to a paradigm shift. Hmm... 

When I turned 49 in March, I made the statement that for my upcoming 50th year, I want to finally make the short film I've been talking about for the last few years. K is on board - she's Magick with a camera - and I have some rough ideas, but I've had a hard time knowing where to start. I think the cards here are telling me that I should perhaps consult more with her, and figure out a game plan together, as opposed to keeping it in my mind to just bring her in as camera. Props to Chris Riggi for, I think, indiretly planting this idea in my head. 

7 Days of Sabbath! Day 2: Black Sabbath Full Live Set, Paris 1970

I originally set out looking for a video of "Lord of This World" from the 70s, but only found video of Sabbath performing it during their reunion tour in 1997/98. This, however... wow. The band was still four working-class guys from Birmingham, touring to support their first two albums. 

Note the alternate vocals on "Hand of Doom" and "War Pigs," or the (insanely out of tune) instrumental intro to Black Sabbath during which we get a close-up on Tony Iommi's finger extensions he had designed so he could play after having the tips of two fingers cut off in the machine press where he worked prior to the band's success.

Years ago, I had a VHS titled something like "The Black Sabbath Story" that combined interviews with live footage spanning the group's Ozzy era. This particular concert supplied the War Pigs that video presented, and the band's no-frills vintage from this performance always stayed with me because most of what you see live from Sabbath footage is post-Master of Reality, when the band had become huge and Ozzy's fringe was growing longer and longer. Mr. Brown, Sonny and I always theorized that the more cocaine Ozzy used for the performance, the longer the fringe. 

There's something insanely intimate and special about this footage. I'm assuming it was released at some point, but I've never seen it (need to look). 

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7 Days of Sabbath! Day 1: Hole in the Sky Live 1975

The opening track from, in my opinion, the best album Black Sabbath ever recorded. Not only does all the music knock it out of the park, but Sabotage is easily the best collection of lyrics the band ever produced, highlights being "Meglomania," "Thrill Of It All" and "The Writ" (on an album where nearly every song has deep, introspective and philosophical lyrics, most of which were written by Geezer Butler).

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NCBD:

Cannot wait for this issue. You'll Do Bad Things is proving to be a bizarre, Slasher/Giallo tribute that has me questioning everything I've seen in its pages so far. Look at that cover! 

WTFPFH?'s current solicitations end with this issue, so I'm not sure where we are in the story. Also, because of the recent gap, I just feel lost again. I'll probably wait to start a re-read until I know when this is returning again. I did, however, sign up for Matthew Rosenberg's free Substack newsletter HERE just to see if I can get any updates. Looking at his page, it seems like all the focus is on a book I totally missed called, We're Taking Everyone Down With Us. I love Rosenberg's writing, but with how WTFPFH? has languished for so long, not sure I'm down with jumping on anything new from him yet.

Garth Ennis and Becky Cloonan? Goddamn right I'm picking this up. I'm so happy to see Boom! still doing so well. Not sure how many issues this is going to run, but I'm in just based on the creators alone. I can't remember the last title I read that Ms. Cloonan drew. 

Mike Shinabarger and I covered News From the Fallout issue one on Drinking with Comics a few weeks ago, and both of us quite liked it. Looking forward to issue 2. Jeffrey Alan Love's art really makes an impression and seems ideally suited to the story.

The more I hear about Mark Spears' Monsters, the more I realize this is a career-making book for Mr. Spears. I think that's awesome. I also think the book is slowly getting better, uncoiling into something I don't think any of us can anticipate. Spears is drawing from such a broad swathe of comic book character iconography - Universal Monsters, Spy Stories, Grindhouse, and now... Superheroes?

I'm still holding onto Lazarus Fallen issue #1 as I finish a rather large spate of current readings and prepare to deep-dive the original two series, Lazarus and Lazarus Risen, again. I can't believe this book is back and coming out monthly like clockwork! Not a knock on the creators; I've just gone without for so long. And talk about a timely return. A not-so-distant future where wealth is politics? Sound familiar?

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Watch:

Last night, K and I saw Michael Shanks' debut film Together, where real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie play a married couple going through issues who encounter an alien substance that begins to fuse them into a single form.

This one is getting A LOT of traction, and it's well deserved. I love that Body Horror has become something of a household word post-The Substance, and Together will likely continue that. And while I'm not the biggest fan of the two leads, both do a fantastic job, as does Damon Harriman, who most will know as Dewey Crow from Justified. 

I can't wait to see what Michael Shanks does next!

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Playlist:

Faetooth - Hole (pre-release single)

Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz

Ghost - Meliora

Faetooth - Remnants of the Vessel

Shellac - At Action Park

Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me

Windhand - Eternal Return

Liars - Drum's Not Dead

Black Pyramid - The Paths of Time are Vast

Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Page of Wands

• Eight of Pentacles

• XV: The Devil

Baggage. All the fiery energy of the Knight of Wands, but held back by over-analysis or indecision. Concentration can help. However, it's often difficult to know how to begin that, as concentration is itself a product of Will. 

All this seems to shore up this idea I have in my head that I need to take a reboot day and really dig in and clean up a bunch of the unfinished shit in my head to make room for a new concetration generator.