Even Paper Girls Need to Rock N Roll

 

I'll never forget the first time I heard Metal Church. My second concert ever was at the World Music Theatre in Tinley Park, Il. 1991, Operation: Rock n' Roll. Metal Church (The Human Factor Tour), Dangerous Toys (Hellacious Acres), Motorhead (1916 Tour), Judas Priest (Painkiller Tour), and Alice Cooper (Trash). As we exited the amphitheater, we were handed cassette compilations that featured a song from all the bands that played, plus Cycle Sluts From Hell, Alice in Chains, and I don't remember who else.

Unfortunately, I don't think I still have this tape, despite having a box filled with tapes that I've lugged with me across the country twice now. Regardless, the Metal Church song on this was "Date With Poverty," and thus, my constant revolutions of this tape burrowed it deep into my brain. 

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Watch:

We finished the regular season of Netflix's The Sandman, then were super happy to see the bonus episode drop with two stories culled from the third TPB collection Dream Country. Both Dream of a Thousand Cats and Calliope were every bit as faithful adaptations of the source material as the overall show was. I really hope they renew this one.

Incidentally, a new episode of The Horror Vision went out today. We do a spoiler-free reaction to The Sandman, and talk about a whole bunch of other things as well, from my first viewing of Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem, to seminal 80s flick Popcorn, to the unique and disturbing films of Andrey Iskanov. Check it out in that little widget just above and to the right, and if you dig, follow us on your favorite Podcast Platform. 

Next up, the first episode of Paper Girls. I am a HUGE fan of the comic, but this first episode felt like the show was cramming A LOT into one episode. Still, I'm in for the haul, so hoping it smooths out a bit. 

This is another one I really hope hits its stride; Brian K Vaughn fans already had one heartbreak in the last twelve months with Y The Last Man being tossed out after only one season, so hopefully, Paper Girls will hit its mark and find an audience:

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Read:

I finished T.E.D. Klein's The Ceremonies yesterday. Wow. What a book. It's always fantastic to find a literary Horror novel, and this is definitely that. The Ceremonies breathes for a large part of its 600-page length, and the story is all the better for it. This is the kind of prose I love most, where the author isn't concerned with hitting beats or creating a page-turning momentum. The story unfolds slowly, primarily with character development, and when things climax in the final 50 or so pages of the book, it feels well-earned.

Loved this. Can't wait to grab Dark Gods, also recently republished by PS Publishing. Also, a note in reference back to my original post about this edition of The Ceremonies when I first received it: despite my fears, the spine on this one actually held up beautifully. Way to go, PS! You guys rock, thank you for bringing Klein's work back into print, I was getting dangerously close to paying upwards of $50 on eBay for a beat-up old MM paperback copy of Dark Gods before you swept in and saved the day.

Unfortunately, I realize now I missed out on a gorgeous Hardcover with Slipcase edition, but that's okay. 

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Playlist:

Various - Every Day (Is Halloween) Small Cat, Big Yard Playlist

Various - Bret Easton Ellis' The Shards Playlist

Underworld - 1992-2002

Tangerine Dream - Phaedra

Metal Church - The Human Factor

Big Business - Here Come the Waterworks

Various - Return of the Living Dead Soundtrack

King Woman - Doubt EP

Sharon Jones and the Dap Tones - Give the People What They Want

The Devil's Blood - The Thousand Fold Epicentre

Anthrax - Worship Music

Forhist - Eponymous

David Lynch and Mark Zebrowski - Polish Night Music

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Revelation can Strengthen Will, however, Emotional persistence can hamper Will. I'm not entirely sure what this is speaking to at the moment, but I'll do some reading later today and see if I can't get a better read on this. 

P.G. X3

After a recent text conversation with Mr. Brown, I fell down a Melvins rabbit hole yesterday. I hadn't heard 2010's The Bride Screamed Murder since back around the time when it came out, and even then it wasn't an album that impacted me at the time (a lot of times, if I'm not in a "Melvins Mood," their shit goes right past my head, then I hear it again at some point and love it immediately). Bride is a fantastic record, one of my favorites of theirs from the last ten years, but the album closer "P.G. X3" might be my favorite track by the band since "A History of Bad Men", on 2006's (A) Senile Animal. 

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Watch:

My excitement for this is building!

While I wasn't blown away by Season Four at its start, by the end they had me again. The announcement that Mike Barnes returns in Season Five has me think this is definitely an "All the soldiers in a row" moment for the show. 

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Playlist:

Various - Every Day (Is Halloween):  Playlist

Melvins/Dumb Numbers - Broken Pipe EP

Melvins - Five Legged Dog

Melvins - Bride Screamed Murder

Melvins - (A) Senile Animal

Melvins & Jello Biafra - Sieg Howdy!

Melvins - The Crybaby

Various - That Texas Blood Issue #1 Playlist: The Casserole Dish

Various - Ben Wheatley "A Field In England" Non Offical Invada Playlist

Sinoia Caves - The Enchanter Persuaded

Majeure - Mass Flashback

Tanya Tucker - Delta Dawn (single)

Brainiac - Bonsai Superstar

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance

Palms - Eponymous

Stevie Wonder - Greatest Hit Vol. 2

Sharon Jones and the Dap Tones - Give the People What They Want

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Here's a direct commentary on something I've known for some time. As I've gotten back into reading and thinking about the practice of Magick, the major impediment to me actually doing very much with it, is drinking. Which, averaging four beers a night right now, is something I probably do too much of. 

A Drop For Every Hour

 

 Mr. Brown has been telling me to check out Amigo the Devil for months, and while I know I downloaded and listened to part of his most recent album Born Against at some point, I must have been distracted. I say this because he reminded me again this past Friday, and the text just happened to arrive at a moment when I was looking for something new to listen to. One time through Born Against was not enough. This one is spectacular. A little Firewater at times, a little Waits, a touch of Zappa even. Really unique and enthralling. Also, laugh out loud funny at times. Born Against is out on Liars Club Records and can be purchased HERE.

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NCBD:

With the contagious period of my plague time over, I'll be heading back to Rick's Comic City to pick up this week's books for NCBD (and wearing a mask just to be extra careful around the employees):

Judgement Day has been pretty good so far, minus that Eve of Judgement title. I find that, after trying multiple times, I just don't like the Eternals as characters. That said, the end of last week's Judgement Day #2 took a very interesting turn, so as long as I don't flip through this and find it Eternal-centric, I'll be picking it up.

I still need to track down issue 1 of Daniel Warren Johnson's Do A Powerbomb, but even after jumping in on issue 2, I'm sold. Interdimensional Monster Wrestling, or something? Awesome, but more the fact that last issue made me cry. This guy is a fucking TREASURE. Makes me reconsider reading his Jurassic League, over at DC...

Well, this final chapter of Banner of War took a few extra weeks to come out, eh? Pretty sure this is my jumping-off point on Thor, but still interested in where Cates might take Hulk after this.

As long as this book stays focused on Madeleine and Illyana, I'm in. 

Have you heard The Horror Vision's dissection of the first eleven issues of this wonderful series? No? Here you GO.

I'm really digging this Clea Strange series quite a bit. I think it's kind of scratching an old urge that last year's Defenders series rekindled - reading a kind of out-of-the-way Marvel mini-series. There's a certain joy to be found in skulking around the less bombastic, tentpole corners of the Marvel Universe, and this series is doing a great job of doing what a lot of the big name characters' titles did back in the 80s, before Cap and the Avengers were household names. 

I had almost forgotten about this book and the fact that this issue should debut the new team!

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Playlist:

Jonathan Grim Art Playlist: John Music

Every day (Is Halloween) Newsletter Playlist: The Immortal 90s

Every day (Is Halloween) Newsletter Playlist: Liminal

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Perturbator - Nocturne City EP

Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy

Led Zeppelin - IV

Sharon Jones and the Dap Tones - Give the People What They Want

Underworld - Best of 1992-2002

True Widow - Circumambulation

Pseudo Echo - Autumnal Park

Zeal & Ardor - Eponymous

Stevie Wonder - Greatest Hits Vol. 2

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Card:

I broke out The Raven Deck again. Haven't used it since I packed it, wanted to get its voice back in my head. I've had a couple of frustrating days with office set up stuff, so I definitely had that in mind when I drew:

So this reads pretty clear, but doesn't exactly answer my question. Pretty spot on, as The Hermit is exactly me at this point, having given up the world I knew and focused on a considerably more personal one. That took Strength, but the end result is a Life Change, in this case of massive degree. But we know all this already. So, I figured I'd draw with another deck to clarify:

The Chariot can be seen as a call-to-arms. Marshal the forces because there's conflict coming. In this case, I think I may be taking some luxuries that have come out of this new World too far, and that has weakened my methods, and my place. 

All super sound. I'm trying to throw money at problems, and meanwhile, not taking basic steps that cost nothing, but will help solidify the ground I'm standing on. Wealth is not the Chariot. It can be a part of it, but it can also be false armor. 

Rainbow Eyes!!!

I was sick as fuck with COVID all weekend, so when I wasn't attempting to finish setting up my office, I mostly spent laid out on the couch. Saturday night Ray, Anthony and I did a new episode of The Horror Vision - that's it in the corner on the handy little Spotify widget - a review/reaction to Prey, which I have watched twice now and loved. Being that it'd been so long since we did an episode, we had planned to cover a lot more than Prey, but as the night wore on, I felt increasingly like shit, and eventually had to call it, immediately passing out on the couch (not sleeping in our bed so as to try and prevent spreading Captain Tripps to K, who so far has been lucky enough to not show any symptoms). I woke up around 1:15 AM and, restless from the body aches - easily the worst part of this - I opened a beer and dialed up Shudder TV. The Slashics channel was showing Rocktober Blood, a movie I'd heard of but never actually saw. I caught the film right at the final act, which is essentially one enormous concert, where the fictional band plays four songs. 

All of those songs are awesome.

This is total 80s Hard Rock, but I don't care, this hit the fucking spot! Now, do I go back and watch the rest of the flick from the beginning? Not sure yet. But I definitely want to track down the soundtrack.

In looking online for the vinyl, I saw that Lunaris Records put out a new edition back in 2016, and it fetches a pretty penny on Discogs. Damn. What are the chances this gets a repress? Until then, I guess it's youtube.

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Watch:

Rocktober Blood left me in the mood for 80s Trash Cinema, so I followed it up with my first-ever viewing of Joseph Zito's 1981 Slasher flick The Prowler*:

 

Seeing that this one had recently returned to Shudder, I chose to watch it on the 2018 Joe Bob Briggs' Original Marathon. A somewhat perplexing film in that it spends A LOT of time roaming around looking for the killer in a pretty ineffectual and, frankly, time-wasting manner, I still enjoyed it overall. Plus, Thom Bray is in it, and I've long been a fan of him. Also, Tom Savini's effects are fantastic. And I suppose now I'm set in a tone for a while, because last night, I continued the 80s bender with... The OCTAGON!!!

 

I first saw this way back in the mid-80s. I was obsessed with Ninjas due to Larry Hama's G.I.Joe comic, so when I stumbled across the final act of The Octagon on WGN Channel 9's movie of the day, I was blown away! A Chuck Norris movie that looked like it had actually taken some of the Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow storyline from Hama's opus and filmed it! 

Rewatching The Octagon last night, it didn't disappoint. This is by no means a "good" movie, but it's fun as hell. It's interesting how watching it now, I can see how Norris or Director Eric Karson - likely both - had ambitions for the film beyond the standard Martial Arts action movie fair. The film spends the first 2/3rds of its runtime slowly laying out and drawing us (via Chuck) into what is supposed to be an intricate story of international espionage. It doesn't completely work, however, I found it quite endearing that in order to give the audience intermittent doses of what they came for, it sets up a B-story early on that focuses on a bunch of nameless recruits at a Ninja Training Camp. So as the Norris-Mystery story meanders its often perplexing path, we continually cut away to the camp for low doses of Martial Arts fighting. 

Pretty slick.

The ending did not disappoint, and overall, although I'm not a huge fan of the Martial Arts Action Genre, this one really hit the spot. Also, the weird echoing voiceovers Norris does that serve as us hearing his character's inner monologue sound SO MUCH like the Central Scrutinizer from Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage album, that I found myself smiling every time I heard it.

........................

* Seeing that William Lustig's Blue Underground did a 4K Blu Ray of The Prowler a few years back, I was hoping to find a trailer for that. No dice. 

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Playlist:

Johnny Hates Jazz - Shattered Dreams (single)

U.S. Girls - Half Free

Corrosion of Conformity - No Cross No Crown

The Contours and Dennis Edwards - Motown Rarities 1965-1968

Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies EP

Amigo The Devil - Born Against

Man or Astro-Man? - 1000X

Man or Astro-Man? - Your Weight on the Moon

Man or Astro-Man? - Defcon 5...4...3...2...1

Man or Astro-Man? - Experiment Zero

Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh

Soundgarden - Superunknown

Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

Various - Joe Begos' Bliss Soundtrack Playlist

Various - Roctober Blood OST

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Sometimes the solutions we come up with for our problems are short-sighted and end up causing a bigger pain in the end. It may be good to listen to someone else for a change. 

What Hides in the Forhist???

 

I only just learned that Blut Aus Nord's Vindsval has an album under the moniker Forhist. This is straight Black Metal, but it's my kind of Black Metal. I love this and have been unable to stop listening to it for the last few days. 

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Watch:

Very Curious about this one. I'm getting weird Titane vibes, only not in any discernable way. I'm starting to pay attention to what I think will play at Beyondfest this year, this is a certain bet (especially since they tweeted about it after I originally penned the above observation):

Doesn't tell You much, but it tells you enough.

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Read:

With all my flying all over the place the last few months, followed by the preparation for and actual move, I haven't been able to make any progress reading T.E.D. Klein's The Ceremonies, which I started a few months back. Mostly settled, I picked it back up last night and easily fell back into it.

As if I didn't have enough to read, I've also begun a re-read of Peter Milligan and Chris Bachalo's Shade The Changing Man, the classic Vertigo stalwart from 1990.

This book is nuts. The Kennedy Sphinx? Absolutely terrifying in the best possible way. I can't wait to dig back into the first three trades of this.

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Playlist:

Roy Ayers - Ubiquity

Stevie Wonder - Greatest Hits Vol. II

Blanck Mass - In Ferneau

Forhist - Eponymous

Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry

Boris and Merzbow - 2R0I2P0

Japandroids - Celebration Rock

Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 1

Small Black - Cheap Dreams

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I

Led Zeppelin - IV

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Lost of conflict, sacrifice and planning may end up wasted in the end. How appropo, as I woke up with what I'm certain is COVID, thanks to K's Mom being diagnosed with it two days ago and then hobbling around the house, coughing without a mask.

New Pixies! Vault of Heaven

 

New Pixies! From the forthcoming new album Doggerel, out September 30th. You can pre-order HERE.

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NCBD:

Well, we won't have our automobiles until the end of the month. This has become the final challenge with the move, as otherwise, I feel as though we're pretty settled in. Last weekend I rented a car, and I'll probably do so again Friday, so I guess this is what I'll be grabbing at Rick's Comic City on the 12th:

Issue 6 was the Legacy #900. It was cool, but a total departure from the "Street-Level" Spider-Man that has me loving this new book. I also have never given a toss about Norman Osbourne, as he was well and truly dead in the 80s when I read Spider-Man, and thus, not really a factor in any of those stories. But I'm digging this enough to keep coming back for me... for now.

I'm hesitant about following all of these. I've dug the X-Books that tie in and Judgment Day #1, but Eve of Judgment was not for me. I just can't get into The Eternals. So, if this one focuses on them, I'll be skipping it. 

I'll be picking up the #1, but remain hesitant on adding this. Great timing, though, what with Prey winning over the hearts and minds of Predator fans everywhere. 

I just realized A Town Called Terror is ongoing! I had been laboring under the idea this was limited series, and that it was developing too slowly for there to be any satisfying story arc here. This changes everything!

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Playlist:

U.S. Girls - Half Free

Forhist - Eponymous

Blanck Mass - In Ferneaux

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night

Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta I – Fathers of the Icy Age 

Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II - Saturnian Poetry

Explode Into Colors - Quilts E.P.

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Card:

Back to my Thoth Deck, which I realize I've been neglecting a bit. Continuing with the 3-Card Spread, which I'm thinking will be the norm from here out, I'm seeing a lot of somewhat chaotic but 'soft' forces at play for the day. Nothing huge will happen today, but emotional waters run deep and the same inspirations that help build my personal world, could also potentially damage it, especially in light of what may be a fascinating revelation. 

Hmm. This feels like complications are brewing in the house, and I can only look in one direction for that. K's Mom started out really good and positive, but this not having our car thing is making her squirrely. I mean, it's making all of us squirrely, but one thing I can definitely say is, as Perry once observed, "Elderly are like children." It causes her to act out. Which can be frustrating, to say the very least. I'm taking this spread as a suggestion to shore up my personal Dominion and follow my better nature, despite whatever happens. 

He Will Show You Fear In A Handful of Dust

 

 Like me, you may have been recently introduced to U.S. Girls via Netflix's The Sandman, where episode five featured THIS song. That song is awesome and makes quite the impression, but in checking out the 2015 album it hails from, Half Free, I can tell you that every track is awesome. This one, in particular, made quite an impression on me. Am I hearing traces of Prince-like songwriting and arranging? And Portishead... definitely Portishead. Great vibe and ironic, because I was only just recently waxing philosophical about how I miss the Trip Hop vibes of artists like Portishead and Poe.  

We're six episodes into The Sandman, and it is spectacular. I never thought I'd see a proper, nearly panel-for-panel adaptation of this book that had such a huge impact on me as a teenager, but here we are. The way things are shaking out, it looks as though this first season will contain two of my all-time favorite/most personally influential issues - John Dee's 24 hours in the Diner and the Cereal Convention. Watched the Diner last night, and it delivered, so I'm psyched to get to the Convention. Being that I like this so much, I can't help but be reminded of last year's Cowboy Bebop adaptation on Netflix, and the fact that they unceremoniously canceled it shortly after the first season dropped.

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Watch:

I believe this is the same trailer that ran post-credits at Ti West's X. I still can't believe how far beyond my expectations Ti West's return to cinema has been:

 

Now that I'm somewhat settled in TN, I'm anxiously awaiting this year's Beyondfest announcement so I can ready myself for the nightmare of trying to buy tickets for their tenth anniversary. I've been attending for all but the first year (didn't know about it then), and I'm certain Pearl will screen, most likely with West and Mia Goth in attendance for some form of Q&A. I'm banking on my boss flying me back to work in L.A. that week, so hopefully, this should all go kind of smoothly and not cost me much.

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Listen:

One of my favorite moments of my cross-country drive last week was while my co-pilot was sleeping in his seat next to me, middle-of-the-night, with the Weird Studies podcast on my earbuds (I use the ambient sound pass-through so I can hear everything going on around me). This episode, in particular:

 

Hearing Phil Ford and J.F. Martel discuss anything is an intellectually stimulating pleasure, but hearing them talk Twin Peaks? Priceless. That said, the conversation begins with Twin Peaks: The Return's infamous episode 8, but uses that as a jumping-off point to expound on the physical and physic changes in our reality that the Trinity Detonation ushered in. Their idea - which I will only very briefly summarize here in an effort to get you to head over to your favorite Podcast Platform and listen to the episode, is that using Lynch's Garmonbozia - pain and suffering - as something of a quantifiable metric, a particular 'flavor' of fear, a discussion can be had about how the world has changed since 5:29 a.m. on July 16, 1945.

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Playlist:

John Carpenter - Lost Themes

Anthrax - Attack of the Killer B's

Mike Doughty - Live At Ken's House

Alice Donut - Dry Humping the Cash Cow

Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon

Small Black - Cheap Dreams

U.S. Girls - Half Free

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Now that I work from home - a scenario that has been slightly frustrating due to Amazon's delay on nearly everything I've ordered for my home office - the lack of a commute means I can make my daily Tarot pulls considerably more in-depth.

Starting in the Middle, with Past on the Left and Future on the Right, I'm reading this as my tendency to overthink and psychoanalyze everything has bound me. Somewhere inside that circuitous cavern of thought, however, is an epiphany, or at the very least a sublime moment of understanding. Applying a fresh perspective will open that up.

I think this is in relation to my home-from-home situation, which feels completely scattered at the moment. I need to build my space and from there, things will become better defined.

Inbetween States: The Magick of A Large Country

 

One of my favorite tracks on Ghost's Impera, an album where I love every track. Is it madness to say this is my second favorite of their records (behind Infestissumam)? I don't care. I love this record.

So, after packing all day last Saturday, and loading all day Sunday, my good friend Keller and made it from LaLaLand to Clarksville, TN in a day and a half! It was awesome. We left immediately after packing (he helped a bit near the end, but I wanted him crisp to drive first-shift, knowing I would be exhausted. My Horror Vision Brother King Butcher and our friends Maddie and Kenta really threw down with us on the move - no easy task when you realize that K's Mom pretty much had, once again, not packed much of anything before day-of). Keller drove from 11:00 PM Sunday, 7/31, until around 7:00 AM the following day. We stopped at a gas station in Flagstaff, AZ, and accidentally hit the skirt of the truck on the concrete bumper guarding the pumps.

Thank god for that bumper.

This is a 20-Foot uHaul truck, and as you might imagine, there's a learning curve. However, everything was ultimately fine because we paid $199 for uHaul's Safemove insurance. SO worth it, and honestly, we were already paying close to $7000 for the truck - it would have been half the price if we trekked over the border into Nevada, however, the monetary benefits would not have outweighed the sanity benefits of picking that truck up down the street from our house. 

So my first driving shift began about 7:40 AM (we hit a McDeath's near the gas station for a breakfast sandwich and COFFEE). I'd come to peace with going back to eating meat the week before - that's something I'll hopefully correct again soon, and while I try to avoid McDeath, you really have little choices on the roads between states, so again, I accepted the circumstances for what they were. That shift lasted fourteen hours - I was on fire! Seriously, I did not want to relinquish the vehicle. It was as though I had tapped into something. I've read and thought a lot about the hypnogogic states long drives induce, but this was something even more powerful. I've always thought there is Magick in this country, in the sheer size and what that does to our consciousness as we traverse it, and I think that's what Keller and I tapped into while driving. 

So shifts:

Keller: 11:00 PM-7:00 AM

Shawn: 7:40 AM-9:00 PM (time shift puts us at local time ~11:00 PM

Keller: 11:30 PM-3:00 PM

..

I-24 kind of divides Clarksville into two textures. Where we stayed last month with my parents was West of the 24, closer to Fort Campbell, and it has a bit more of a hodge-podge feel. Still nice, but it's a lot of strip malls with Vape stores and Payday loans shops. East of the Highway is decidedly crisper. It's mostly new developments, new stores, etc. When K and I rolled into town with my folks at the end of June, we entered the city through the West side and honestly, it knocked our expectations down a few pegs. After getting priced out of the Murfreesboro/Lavergne/Smyrna area by Angeleno homeowners, seeing this side of Clarksville felt a little like a defeat. When our Realtor eventually explained the divide and showed us around the East side, we felt a lot better, hence why we bought the house that we did. However, as the old saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression, so I carried an almost unconscious, background anxiety around with me through the sale, inspections, packing, etc. When Keller and I drove in, Siri had us go a totally different way, using the 31, which is essentially a long, scenic surface street. A bit stressful with a 20-Foot truck, but it totally did the trick. All my low-level disappointment evaporated. I fucking LOVE it here.  K and I sat outside on our back porch last night and watched a lightning storm. 

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Watch:

We haven't had the internet, and we haven't had any time to watch anything, but if all goes well, tonight we'll be digging into some of what we missed. Here's where I'm planning on starting:

 

And, of course:

 

While I've been fairly skeptical about what feels like the nearly impossible feat of adapting Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, I am hearing nothing but good things from people I know. Of course, it remains to be seen how I feel about it - as Sandman is one of my all-time favorite and most influential comics, but my mind is open.

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Read:

Finally going to start reading James Tynion's Something Is Killing the Children, thanks to Gerald at the Comic Bug, who sold me a set of the first five issues with David Mack covers for half-price as a going-away gift. Look at these:

So far, I'm in. Issue One is a FANTASTIC set-up. 

I'm glad I waited to start this (although for investment purposes, I wish I had that first-printing #1). Tynion's 3-issue The Closet just wrapped this past week, and it cinched him as one of my favorite current writers in comics, so I have a nice big run of SIKTC ahead of me to look forward to.

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Playlist:

Orville Peck - Bronco

Ghost - Impera

Goatsnake - Black Age Blues

Zombi - 2020

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

Adia Victoria - A Southern Gothic

Calexico - The Black Light

Fleet Foxes - Shore

Ella Fitzgerald - Best of, Vol. II

The Bangles - Different Light

Anthrax - Worship Music

Cults - Static

ZZ Top - Eliminator

Billy Idol - The Roadside EP

Deafheaven - Ten Years Gone

The Contours & Dennis Edwards - Motown Rarities 1965-1968

SOD - Speak English or Die

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium

Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

The first pull here was done on Wednesday, August 3rd 2022. The second night in the new house. K didn't arrive until the following night, so this was Keller and I hanging out after a second hard day of unloading. I had procured some Mushrooms from a friend back in LaLaLand and saved them for this trip, so when we knocked off for the evening, we opened fresh beers and ate about 2 grams each.

First, yes. I shuffled.

The fact that I laid down 13, 12 and 11 is crazy to me. I read this as the sacrifices I endured (saving $, dealing with all the difficulties of moving your life across country) to perform a massive life-changing ritual (the drive), rewards me. And I'm feeling that reward. Everyone loves this house: Keller couldn't get over it, Kirsten loves it, her Mom loves it, and Sweetie loves it. Oh, and I love it. 

Good Bye LaLaLand

 

What a way to end my sixteen years in LaLaland! 

My good friend Keller and I hit the Palladium for Anthrax's 40th-anniversary tour. It was a fantastic night with a fantastic friend - the man who is driving with me in a 20-Foot Uhaul starting Sunday night at 7:00 PM, LA to Clarksville. The Modello tall cans were flowing. The Palladium was hot as Hades, and with my lungs, after a mile-and-a-half walk from Keller's to the venue, it didn't take me longer than five minutes to realize that, despite my best intentions, wearing a mask in that fucking place would be impossible. 

Black Label Society opened - great at what they do, but not really my thing. The five-plus minute behind-the-back guitar battle Zakk Wylde and his guitarist Dario Lorina tore the stage up with during the penultimate number of their set was pretty mindblowing, but really, I was just antsy for Anthrax. They did not disappoint, despite the fact that they only played twelve songs. But oh, what a great twelve songs. Here's the setlist:

1) Among the Living

2) Caught in a Mosh

3) Madhouse

4) The Devil You Know

5) Keep it in the Family

6) Metal Thrashing Mad

7) Anti Social

8) I Am the Law

9) In the End

10) Only

11) Bring the Noise - with Chuck D!!!

12) Indians

When they brought out Chuck D, I seriously teared up. I stepped away from Anthrax for most of my twenties and early thirties, but I always held the reverence for Persistence and Among. Persistence was the first record I bought by them - from a fucking Phar-Mor no less, and it made them my band back in the day. Sure, I loved Metalica, Slayer and Megadeth, but Anthrax always spoke to me the most, and it was great to see them again, this time the first for me with Joey, as the only previous show of theirs I attended was during High School, when Mr. Brown and I caught the John Bush-era 'Thrax at Chicago's Aragon Brawlroom - complete with Quicksand and White Zombie opening. That was another amazing night with another amazing friend, and I still remember the ride home in Brown's car, when he popped in Sugar's Copper Blue, we rolled with windows down and hit Lake Shore Drive on a crisp night that was twenty-nine years ago to today. Talk about crazy synchronicities here, on the even of my urban exodus. 

Video from Matt Bower's youtube channel, which is pretty cool, so head on over and give him some love HERE.

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Read:

Inspired by an episode of the Weird Studies podcast and a slowly rekindled desire to dip my toes back into the Occult, I pulled Aleister Crowley's Magick in Theory and Practice off the shelf the other day and began reacquainting myself with it. 

I bought this 17 or 18 years ago from The Atlantis Bookshop in London, and while I've read parts of it, Crowley's writing has always been so opaque to me, that frustration has always ultimately thwarted any serious attempts to read this in its entirety. Eventual failure or not, I'm feeling like it might be time to give it another go.

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Playlist:

I've been so busy finishing out my last week in-person at the week at work, I've not had a chance to post in some time, so of course, if I actually recorded everything I've listened to it would be quite the egregious scroll for you, dear reader. Instead, here are some highlights up to and including today, July 30th, 2022:

Trail of the Dead - XI: Bleed Here Now...

Anderson .Paak - Malibu

Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST

High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings

High on Fire - Surrounded By Thieves

Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh

Milk Cult - Love God

Various - Daptone Gold

Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell

Anthrax - pretty much all their albums, all day. Fuel for the endless day of packing 

Bria - Cuntry Covers Vol. 1

John Cale - Fear

Infectious Grooves - The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move

Ozzy - Ultimate Sin 

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Card:

My intention was to do a big, involved spread for my departure, but I have neither the time or the strength for that. Here then, is a three:

Collaboration, honed through conflict/change, leads to a new status quo. Or something like that. Again, exhausted. This is a pretty pivotal moment in my life, so I should try to revisit this when I'm not falling asleep while I type.

You can pick up Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot deck HERE.

A Line of Shots... Much Needed

 

Moving is hard. I mean, like, REALLY hard. But it's one of those things in life you just have to do, so I put my head down, charge through night after night packing (endless, endless) and drink. But maybe beer isn't enough...

New Afghan Whigs! How Do You Burn is out September 9th (My Mom's birthday!). Pre-order your copy HERE.

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Watch:

Over the last few years, I've actually become quite a fan of the John Wick flicks. Sure, Part III wasn't quite up to snuff with the first two, but you can tell every shot of this series is executed in a way that lovingly expresses a weird, violent beauty. Now, part IV:

 

On my birthday, no less. Will it live up to the others? Well, with Keanu, Ian McShane, and Lance Reddick returning, it will at the very least scratch the itch the other entries in the series instigated.

 

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Read:

When I did my NCBD post this week, I forgot about the new Daniel Warren Johnson book I didn't even realize was out.

I have no idea what this book is about, and I don't give a toss about wrestling, but it's DWJ and in picking up the first issue on Butcher's recommendation, of course, it's f*&king GORGEOUS. I don't know what it is exactly about Johnson's art that connects with me so much, but I feel like he definitely grew up with similar influences, and those influences come through in everything he does, whether it's Beta Ray Bill or this.

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Playlist:

Ozzy Osbourne - Degradation Rules (pre-release single)

Black Sabbath Featuring Toni Iommi - Seventh Star

Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror

Journey - Greatest Hits

Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh

Brenton Wood - Brenton Wood's 18 Best

Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy

Soundgarden - Superunknown

On Vinyl:

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Orville Peck - Bronco

Eldovar - A Story of Darkness & Light

Jerry Cantrell - Brighten

Anthrax - Among the Living

Ghost - Impera

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Card:

Acceleration. No shit. Tearing the house apart, going through every single thing we own. Convincing a family member to get rid of things that sat in a storage space for 40 years. And I'm driving out of LaLaLand NEXT SUNDAY!!! So yeah, things are moving really fast.

Dead Cross

 

Wow. Dead Cross returns with a song and video that immediately make me like this album better than the last. Can't wait. Dead Cross II drop October 28 on Ipecac, Pre-order HERE.

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Watch:

Over the last year, I finally did what everyone told me to do and watched Cobra Kai. Holy shit - this show is awesome. For someone who saw the first two Karate Kid flicks as a kid and never since I was floored by how much I dig this show. But hey, it is really well done.

Season Five and an entire valley of Terry Silver's domestic karate terrorist program? Wow. Looks fantastic.

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Playlist:

The Soft Moon - Exister (pre-release singles)

The Soft Moon - Criminal

Bexley - Eponymous

Blut Aus Nord - 777 Cosmosophy

Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed

Iwan Rebroff - singt Weison von Wodka und Wein

Halloween Chemicals Kill Warfare

How about some Slayer to start the day, eh? One of my all-time favorite tracks from them. 

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NCBD:

Short week (thankfully):

After that big Silver Coin reread over the weekend, I can't wait for this new issue. 

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Watch:

I for one LOVED Halloween Kills. Now, granted, I really dug DGG's Halloween 2018, too, until I rewatched it at home. Not that I hated it or anything, but that second, smaller viewing revealed a bit of a lackluster sheen that was no doubt covered up by the big, opening night, theatrical viewing my friends and I had first with that one (listen to our just-after-leaving-the-theatre review HERE). And I've only seen Kills the one time, again in the theatre, although not on opening day. Still, I dug pretty much everything but the ending, which proved to be a HUGE question mark. It catapults this new requel approach into possibly super-supernatural territory, so I really have to see Halloween Ends before I can make an overall judgment, Either way, this is going to be fun as hell in the theatre come October!

Visceral, to say the least. And call me old-fashioned, but the old hand-in-the-garbage-disposal is always a gag that makes me flinch. 

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Playlist:

Bria - Cunty Covers Vol. 1

ZZ Top - Eliminator

Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain

Black Pumas - Eponymous

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (digipak version)

Ghost - Impera

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Fast-paced change? CHECK! I love how all my pulls are reflecting the heightened frenzy and complication party of my preparing to move across the country. Batten down the hatches, not long now!!!

Sleeping in the Midday Sun

 

Listening to Orville Peck's Bronco a lot these last few months since it dropped, and I've done that thing where pretty much every song rotates in as my favorite for a bit. A few weeks ago, it was the album closer "All I Can Say." Great duet that prompted me to look into Peck's guest Bria's work.

Cunty Covers Volume 1 dropped last year, and I'm pretty sure had I heard it then, the EP would have made it onto my year's best list. Wow. My favorite track on an album of favorite tracks, here's Bria's rendition of John Calle's "Buffalo Ballet." You can order the album from Bria's Bandcamp HERE.

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READ:

I spent Saturday morning re-reading Michael Walsh and friends' The Silver Coin, then my co-host Butcher and I did a two-hour FULL SPOILER retrospective on the entire series for The Horror Vision, available now on all Podcast Platforms.

Then Sunday, I spent the morning re-reading Matthew Rosenberg and Tyler Boss's What's the Furthest Place From Here. Man, you can't get much better than these two series. While you can hear plenty of my thoughts on The Silver Coin in the episode mentioned above, I'll just use this space right here to tell you that WTFPFH is probably going to end up being my favorite book of the year. 

There is just NOTHING else out there like this book. Sure, I could make comparisons to Teenagers From Mars and Black Hole, among others, but WTFPFH cuts the modern realism with a heaping dose of what the actual fuck? and it makes for a fun, quirky read that I really can't wait to see further unravel, because there is NO way to anticipate where the hell this one is going. Love it!

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Playlist:

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain

John Cale - Black Acetate

Bria - Cuntry Covers Vol. 1

... And You Will Know Us By The Trail of the Dead - XI: Bleed Here Now

Withered - Veloren

The Sword - Age of Winters

Telekinetic Yeti - Primordial

Earthless - Black Heaven

Helms Alee - Keep This Be the Way

Sleep - Volume One

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

'

Another reminder that change is a'coming? Really? As if I don't know (he says while he's out of breath from packing).

XL/RZ

 

Anthrax's fan-chosen live album XL dropped yesterday, and while you can tell Joey is struggling a bit on some of the songs, overall this is a blast. Love these guys, can't wait to see them at the Paladium at the end of the month, my outro show from LaLaLand. What a great way to exit, eh?

 

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Watch:

I have to tell you, all the way until I hit play on the new trailer for Rob Zombie's The Munsters remake, I assumed I would hate what I saw. You know what though? This looks visually fantastic and fun as hell:

 

I also appreciate the fact that it's a love story? I mean, part of why I assumed I would not give a lick about this film is I had a really hard time imagining what RZ would do with this property - he hits the same note with his stuff so often that I just couldn't imagine a departure. That's not a complaint - despite regular complaints and disappointments, I generally like most of what he's done cinematically.

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Playlist:

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Perturbator, Johannes Persson and Final Light - Final Light

Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance

Baroness - Gold and Grey

John Cale - Black Acetate

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

Anthrax - XL

Telekinetic Yeti - Primordial

Bexley - Eponymous

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Struggle? Oh yeah. Getting some people to start packing is like trying to get a liar to tell the truth. Still, the card reminds me not to give up, and that even when I feel totally immobilized, there will be a new card tomorrow (unless this one resurfaces. That would make me cry).

I Want to Reach Out and Touch the Sky

Just because it fucking rules!!!

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Watch:

Andrei Tarkovsky has only ever barely been on my peripheral, but thanks to Criterion Channel, I just had the opportunity to watch his 1979 film Stalker.

I still need time to unpack this one before I can talk about it, however, let it be said that I absolutely LOVED this film. Talk about 'location porn.' The visual aesthetic of this film perfectly aligns with my innermost aesthetic - something that goes back to when I hunted around my yard for half-full culverts and dirt mounds, shattered bricks, twisted metal, anything to have a location for my action figures. 

I've been obsessing over Stalker in my head for the last two days, and this inspired me to look for a podcast discussion of it. Well, boy did I find it.

 

The Weird Studies podcast is fantastic! Hosts Phil Ford and J.F. Martel not only deep-dive the film, but their discussion of philosophy, art and life feels absolutely refreshing in the stifled academic pretense of our time. I've already subscribed, and intend on Weird Studies keeping me company for many a commute to come (while I still have a commute, that is).

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Watch.2:

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I cannot wait for this movie!

 

Against all odds, this really moved the needle for me. I "broke up" with Kevin Smith about the time I sat through Tusk, which could have been fantastic, but had James Laxton's gorgeous cinematography and a stellar Michael Parks performance destroyed by adolescent whimsy. I used to be a big fan of his films, but now, well, I still hold Chasing Amy in extremely high regard - the acting! - but other than that... not so much. Clerks II had its moments but was overall depressing. I'm not saying Smith makes bad movies (sometimes, sure), but overall I feel like I just outgrew him. This, though, looks like it will be a nice way to revisit that original film and these characters. My mileage varies with most of them, but it's been a minute and I didn't go within ten feet of that Reboot movie, so I think I may enjoy the Quick Stop one last time.

 

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Playlist:

Bria - Cuntry Covers Vol. 1

Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance

Earthless - Black Heaven

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland

Windhand - Split EP

Metallica - Master of Puppets

The Bullet Screamed At Me From Somewhere

 

I have Alice in Chains on my mind. Mr. Brown often clues me in on the Pitchfork Sunday Review, where every Sunday a writer looks back on an iconic album. Yesterday was Dirt - one of the most important of my "forever albums," and it made me dive back in head-first. 

I've never been much of a Pitchfork guy, but when they hit it, they really leave a mark on me. This was one of those times. 

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NCBD:

Back home (for now) in LA, so I'll be heading to the Bug to pick up this week's books, which are plentiful:

Some big events kicking off in TMNT and the X-Books, which have the second annual Hellfire Gala followed immediately by Judgment Night (which I'm still not sold on). Also, I'm not necessarily going to jump on this new Mandolorian series, but I definitely want to check out the #1.

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Playlist:

Ghost - Impera

Bria - Cuntry Covers Vol. 1

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain

Karma to Burn - V

Black Sabbath - Never Say Die

Mars Red Sky - Eponymous

Billy Idol - The Roadside EP

Faith No More - Sol Invictus

The Jesus Lizard - Liar

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

This gives me a teensy bit of an idea of how things are going to be as I prep for leaving LaLaLand. So far, no, things have not necessarily been the way I expected, but nothing has been a straight-up rug, so that's good. The idea in life is always to go in with loose expectations (if any at all), lest you succumb to disappointment despite a triumph.

For Eddie

\m/

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Watch:

Very curious about Addison Heimann's Hypochondriac, which Bloody Disgusting's John Squires says,  "gives us Donnie Darko vibes." No quicker way to get me interested. Here's the trailer:

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Read:

I had previously noticed the solicitation for Pentagram of Horror, a new anthology Horror comic created by Marco Fontanili, but the shop didn't order any (or was sold out), and I kinda forgot about it from there. Fast forward to Tennessee a few weeks ago and I was able to snag issue 2 from Rick's Comic City. I just read it this morning, and I have to say, I loved it.

Pentagram of Horror reminds me A LOT of The Silver Coin, though not in an imitation way. Having only read this second issue, I can say that the story here was very well told, with Fontanili's writing and art working together in such a way that it really strengthened the tone. Very horrific, stand-alone, but with a wide enough scope that it feels cinematic.

Can't wait to track down #1.

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Playlist:

Baroness - Gold and Grey

Orville Peck - Bronco

Sal Salmena - Bria

Bria - Cuntry Covers Vol. 1

Greg Puciato - Mirror Cell

The Sword - Age of Winters

Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop OST

Various - Lost Highway OST

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

Alice in Chains - Dirt

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Change. Oh yeah. LOTS.