Dumbek's Random Stuff

We're off to Coinstar to cash-in some of the change we've saved-up over the last year or so. Any guess how much is there?

GRILLO THE CLOWN sings songs of KISS, R.E.M, WEIRD AL

As with all releases on the CREEPS label, this is a very primitively packaged, rustic objet d'art, with its j-card insert handmade by Grillo himself. The cassette itself is taped over an old Billy Squier tape.

The Mystical Beast recently posted an entry regarding 9353 (12/27), including a link to a "Famous Last Words" mp3. One of DC's great bands from back-in-the-day. Not everyone was on Dischord , you know. Check it out.



Hey look - it's a picture!

I need to figure out where I can post some mp3s. Maybe I'll do that this weekend.

So I'm avoiding doing any real work this morning, hopping around on AllMusic I'm looking through some search results and notice that for some artist I've never heard of, their "genre" is listed as "Gay". That struck me as a bit odd. Further clicking on "gay" took me to the "Gay" genre page. Here's how allmusic describes it:

The term "gay music" is hardly derogatory -- it is simply a way to categorize all the music that is made specifically for a gay audience by gay musicians. Certainly, there have been gay musicians throughout recording history, from Noel Coward to Bob Mould, yet they usually don't identify themselves as "gay" -- they wrote for a broad audience. Gay music is different because it is music written and performed by gay musicians for a gay audience. Frequently, the music takes familiar forms, whether it's dance or punk, and adds homosexual themes. At times, the music is campy, at times it is sober, but it's all distinguished by its independence (almost all of the music is released and distributed by the artists themselves) and its ideology.

It goes on to breakdown the gay genre into 3 unlikely categories: Gay Comedy, Gay Country and Gay Gospel. The descriptions on these 3 sub-genre pages are pretty much the same. Substitute "gospel" or "comedy" for "country" and the descriptions are virtually identical.

Gay Country is straight-ahead country and country-pop music, but it has specifically gay topics and themes, and is performed by gay musicians for gay audiences.

That's a whole lotta gay going-on.

Things like this really annoy me. It almost implies that any song that references being gay takes you out of the overall picture and dumps you in the "Gay Music" genre. Their reference to Noel Coward and Bob Mould almost reeks of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

I'm not a musician, but if I was (were?), I can't imagine I'd want my music to be classified as simply "gay". It sort of overshadows everything else you put into it. Not to mention telling you nothing about what the music sounds like. Do you do showtunes? Or are you more like Pansy Division? That's much more useful info than "Gay."

The most popular CD in the "Gay" genre? "Club Verboten". A various artists compilation featuring the oh-so-gay antics of Carmen Miranda, Marilyn Monroe, The Duke Ellington Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. OK - Sylvester is on it too. I guess he qualifies.

Labels suck.

Here's a list of music that we got for Christmas:

Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series 1-3
Elton John - Peachtree Road
Elton John - Dream Ticket (DVD)
Pearl Jam - rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991-2003)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Greatest Hits
The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts
Ray Charles - Anthology
R.E.M. - Leaving New York (single)
Galaxie 500 - On Fire
The Damned - Damned Damned Damned
Moody Blues - In Search Of The Lost Chord
Cowboy Junkies - The Caution Horses
Jimmy Buffet - Boats, Beaches, Bars and Ballads
Jerry Garcia - After Midnight - Kean College 2/28/80

hmmm...I think that's it. There will be more once we use the gift cards we got from various people (including my mother - grrr).

I'll bet we're the only people in the world that got CDs by both Jimmy Buffet and The Damned as presents.

As expected, Christmas was great. A very long day, but lots o' fun.

Started off at around 6:30am, opening presents with the BF. Not many surprises this year. We just decided to go shopping together, tell each other what we'd like and get those gifts. This year's unofficial theme was "things that are warm." Hats, coats, slippers, robe, etc. And music, of course. My "big gift" was an mp3 player. However, my favorite present was these slippers. mmmm....toasty.

Off to pick up BF's mom. Exchanged presents with her (she got me Dylan's Bootleg Series 1-3 box - Sweeeeeet), then back to our place to load-up the car with gifts for my family.

Dinner with my family was nice. Very little drama (not always guaranteed). My parents went WAY overboard with gifts though. I hate it when they do that. They don't have much money at all. My dad is retired and my mom is going to retire this spring. They need to be saving their money. I made a deal with my mom that they would just get us a toaster-oven that we wanted, and that's IT. She finally got me to agree that she could also buy us something small to surprise us with. Like a cheap gift card or a sweater. So we're opening our presents...the toaster oven - cool...a sweater for each of us...cool. hmm... another shirt for the BF. That's cool. But she still got us gift cards too. That wasn't part of the deal, but it's ok - she LOVES giving presents and it makes her feel good. Fine. But then we get a look at the value of the cards. In addition to the toaster-oven, sweaters and shirt, she got us $225 in gift cards ! Dammit. That wasn't how the deal was supposed to work. We've now progressed from a single, $80 present, to about $400. My parents CANNOT afford that. Especially when they basically did the same thing with my sister and niece. My parents (who are supposedly worried about paying their bills next year) have no business spending $1500 on Christmas presents for their adult children and grandchildren.

My mother's logic: "We might not have any money next year, so we're giving everyone lots of presents while we can. I'm not sure what to do now. They wrote a check to us for the toaster-oven (we actually purchased it for them to give to us). We've since torn up that check. I don't know what to do with the gift cards. I don't think stores will let you return them and get your $$$ back, but I'll check. The irony of it all is that she's trying to make us happy by buying us lots of gifts. In reality, she's making us feel miserable, angry and guilty instead.

Anyway - enough of that. After dinner and way too much carrot cake for dessert, we headed for home. A quick stop at the house to change clothes, then up to Germantown to drop of the BF's mom. From there directly to Iota to catch The Slickee Boys.

Tru Fax and the Insaniacs were up first. I never got to see them back-in-the-day. They didn't disappoint. Lots of fun. They were "new wave" back when "new wave" was still cool. I was glad to see they had their LP available on CD, but it's just a CD-R. I bought it anyway. Supposedly, it has 5 bonus-tracks. They said they're playing somewhere again in February. I'll definitely check them out again.

But the highlight of Xmas had to be the return of local heroes The Slickee Boys. Mark wearing a fez, bottle of Jim Beam in-hand. Marshall dressed as an ice cream man. Kim dressed as...well...Kim Kane. They did not disappoint. Lots of classics: "Going All The Way/Glendora", "Jailbait Janet", "The Brain That Refused To Die" (including the jungle mask and lots of wiggly fingers), "Escalator 66", "Pictures Of Matchstick Men" and lots more. Of course they ended with a combo of "When I Go To The Beach" and "This Party Sucks". Awesome. There were a couple of shaky moments, but overall it was terrific. Unfortunately, Dan wasn't there, so we didn't get "Eighteen". Oh well.

The only thing missing was my old buds I used to hang out at these shows with. They're all married with kids and rarely go out these days. The fact that this show was on Xmas night didn't help. Their loss. As far as I was concerned, it was 1985 again. Merry Christmas to me.

Merry Christmas.

(and don't forget about the Slickee Boys tonight :-) )

We had our Xmas open-house/party-thing over the weekend. It went much better than I expected. It always does. That's the way it works. I moan about how much I hate these things, about how there's no way we're doing it next year, etc. Then I end up having a really good time. It's all part of the game we play. Most of our neighbors showed up, including a few I'd never met. The cynical side of me thinks they just wanted to see what the homos have done to the house since we moved in. They seemed duly impressed. After seeing some of their houses, I'm not surprised. Our houses all started off being identical 50 years ago. They've all changed over time. Now our house has a bigger kitchen, finished basement, swimming pool, covered porch, driveway, etc. There's no doubt in my mind we've got the best house on the block. Yay for us! Of course, they probably paid half of what we did. Anyway - the party was fun. I'm sure I'll complain about it again next year.


I've apparently scratched my left cornea. My vision was getting very blurry over the last 2 weeks and I was becoming painfully sensitive to bright light (including sunlight). The doctor gave me some steroid drops and told me to stop wearing my contacts for a week or so. My vision is improving and the light sensitivity is pretty much gone. I hate wearing my glasses though. They're about 8 years old and the prescription is way-off. I can't wear them at night at all. I'm debating either getting new glasses or going for the laser surgery. Everyone I know swears by the surgery. I just have this fear that 10 years from now it's going to be common knowledge that this laser stuff was a Very Bad Idea. I may go for it though. We'll see how the finances are after Xmas.


Last night I came home after my eye doctor's appointment, greeted by my BF at the door doing his best Michael Stipe impression. He was mimicking what Stipe does when he sings "Animal" in concert. He's so adorable. "Whoa."

Now playing: My current favorite Xmas CD "VH-1's The Big 80's Christmas". The Ramones, The Smithereens, The Waitresses, Squeeze and more.

Things I'd like to do this week, but probably won't have time: John Waters at 9:30, The Hard Tomorrows at the Black Cat. I'm absolutely determined to see The Slickees though. Tru Fax and the Insaniacs are opening. Yowza. Sorry Mom. Gotta leave Christmas dinner a little early.

Speaking of The Slickees, I met someone at a different Xmas party this weekend who used to hang out at the old 9:30 Club back in the 80's. It sounds like we were probably at a bunch of the same shows...Black Market Baby, The Dead Milkmen, Black Flag, The Slickee Boys....Swapping stories about the good-old-days is always fun.

I've recently become addicted to "Days Of Our Lives". Partly because of him. (I'll post a better link when I'm not at work.) Thank God for The Soap Network.


Update: Here's a better link. His name is Kyle Lowder. He still looks better on tv though.

I got rear-ended the other night. And not in a good way. Someone ran into my car on the way to see Patti Smith on Thursday. Not a tremendous amount of damage. The guy almost cleared me, but he clipped the corner of my bumper. It looks like someone punched the rear-passenger corner of the bumper. Crap. It's going to be more of a hassle than anything else. I've never been in an accident. Well...nothing that involved a 3rd-party. I wrapped my car around a tree once about 10 years ago. But that was all me. I didn't have to deal with anyone else or another insurance company. I hope there are no hassles with that. Famous last words.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln....

Patti Smith was incredible. She makes most of the other shows I've seen this year look like amateur-hour. She performs with such passion and energy it's amazing. She can sure work the crowd into a bit of a frenzy. It's hard not to get caught up in it. Her records are good, but her live shows are just mesmerizing. I was surprised how few people were at the show. Despite my run-in on the way to the club, I still made it about 10 minutes before she came on. The place was only about 1/2-full. As the night went on it seemed to fill up though. By the end of the night there was a respectable crowd. Frankly, I prefer shows like this. Comfortably crowded. Enough of a crowd to get some good energy going, but you're not packed-in like sardines.

Random Xmas Stuff:

I got my Xmas bonus this week.

We're getting our Xmas tree tomorrow.

We're also going to visit my folks tomorrow. We're taking them the presents we bought for ourselves so they can wrap them and give them to us.

We're having an open-house/Xmas party next weekend.

I hate having open house/Xmas parties.

We recently got Digital Cable. Now we get the Speed Channel. There's racing on 24/7.

We recently got a new mini-stereo for the living room. It's going to get lots of use, because I can't stand the Speed Channel.

The Slickee Boys are playing at Iota on Christmas night. $16.

These guys are by far my all-time favorite DC band. They practically created the DC scene. They were around before the Bad Brains. The Teen Idles (a precursor to Minor Threat) use to open for them on occasion. They're often credited with being the very first punk band in DC. Cybernetic Dreams of Pi is an absolute classic. Fun, rockin'-psychedelic-psycho-surf stuff.

You can see some Slickees videos here. There's a nice summary of their career here. There are some mp3's here.

I can't recommend this show enough. It's gonna be one big party. Even I can't help dancing when I hear them. And I rarely dance. They only play once a year. See them while you can.

Patti Smith tonight at 9:30. Should be swell.

This one was no accident though.

Guitarist Among 5 Killed in Ohio Shooting

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A man charged onstage at a packed heavy metal show and opened fire, killing at least four people including guitarist Darrel Abbott before an arriving officer shot him to death, authorities said.

Click the link to read the rest of the article.

December 8, 1980

I was surprised how much this bothered me. Elvis had died a few years earlier, but I didn't see what the big deal was. He was just an old singer. But then John Lennon died. He was murdered, actually. Maybe that's why it hurt so much more.

I was exactly 15 years and 3 days old. I was starting to branch out a bit musically. I was growing out of the cartoon antics of KISS and the remnants of disco just weren't cutting it. I was starting to take music a little more seriously. The Beatles were a big part of that. I was the only kid I knew that owned The White Album and Abbey Road. I adored the Beatles.

My mom woke me up and told me. We watched TV all morning and I cried a bit. My mom didn't make me go to school that day. I didn't have to ask her - she just didn't say anything. I always thought that was very cool of her.

Imagine. I can't help but think of John every time I hear that word - regardless of the context.

R.I.P.

Had a lot of fun at The Pixies show last night. They played pretty much everything I knew by them, and a lot more. I'm still not sure what all the fuss is about, but they still put on a hell of a show. After all of the hype, I was expecting the crowd to just be going bonkers the whole time. It turns out most people seemed to be sitting down after the first couple of songs. I was a bit surprised by that. You'd never know they've been off the road for years. They sounded terrific.

I briefly met Erica after the show. We talked a bit about WSC before I had to run off to catch my friends. Very nice to meet you Erica. You definitely need to get to a WSC show soon.

Walking back to my car I was thinking about how unseasonably warm and nice it was outside. Of course I got a block from my car and the sky opened up, unleashing a torrential downpour. Sprinting to my car wasn't much help. I was soaked from head-to-toe by the time I got inside. Oh well.

OK - I confess. I don't know jack about The Pixies. I know their reunion tour is being seen as the second coming, but if it wasn't for all the hype, I probably wouldn't have even noticed. I know a few of their songs...I even own Doolittle...but I don't really get it.

Maybe it'll be more clear after tonight, when I go see them at D.A.R.

Saturday found us running around a bit. First to Ikea to pick up all that furniture, then to a Christmas party help by some of the BF's old college friends. To be perfectly honest, the party was a lot more fun than I expected. His old college friends are all very nice. As time goes on I'm getting much more comfortable just hanging out with them. I think the feeling is pretty mutual, which is very cool.

We did have to leave a little early though, so we could get home, change and head out to the Birchmere to catch Bob Mould. I had never been there before, but I have heard very mixed things about the Birchmere. People seem to either really love it or really hate it. I don't think I've made up my mind yet. General admission, but totally seated. No milling about at all. Talking too loud would probably get you thrown out. Great sightlines all around though. We sat at the bar, with a direct side-view of the stage. Not a bad view at all and we never had to wait for a waitress. It was nice to come out of a show not completely stinking of cigarette smoke.

I had heard there were two stages - the main room and the bandstand. We weren't sure if we were in the right area when we walked in, but then we noticed Bob about 10 feet away, so we figured we were in the right place. Bob waved, so we walked over for a quick hello before grabbing our seats at the bar. mmm....Shiner Bock.

The show itself was really good. The first half was acoustic, the second half electric. It was my first time seeing Bob play. I still kick myself all the time for not seeing Husker Du when I had the chance. A couple of my friends made the trip from PSU to DC for see them at the old 9:30 in the mid-80's, but I didn't go. One of my larger concert mistakes.

But Bob put on a great show. The solo setup really emphasized what a good songwriter he is. As much as I loved Husker Du, the melody and lyrics tended to get lost in that massive wall of sound. They were there if you went digging for them, but it was nice to hear Bob's songs stripped down like that. The highlight of the night for me was probably "I Apologize", with "Wishing Well" and "See A Little Light" not far behind. Kudos to the guy in the back dancing like crazy all night long. He looked like he was having the time of his life.

Said goodnight after the show and Bob indicated that he wanted to play a little longer, but it seemed like everyone wanted to go home. So all you indie kids that are too cool to clap, or hate encores because "they're gonna come back no matter what" take note. Show a little love and you may get some more music.

We headed to The Eagle for a nightcap, since it was after midnight and now technically my birthday. However, after driving around the block 3-4 times looking for a place to park, we decided to head home. Still - a great night. Thanks to the BF for the tickets for my birthday.

New look. Not sure if I like it.

According to the Teenbeat mailing list, there's going to be a 3rd Teenbeat Anniversary gig. It's going to be on 2/23 at Galaxy Hut in Arlington. Most likely a handful of solo performers playing a few songs each. No word on the exact line-up yet. It's supposedly a free show. Can't beat that.