Dumbek's Random Stuff

Let's get in the Wayback machine for a moment - shall we?

It's 1981. Seminal hardcore band Black Flag is looking for a new lead singer. They swing through DC where they meet fanboy Henry Rollins and ask him to come to New York to audition for them. He joins the band, they become legendary and the rest is punk rock history.

But what if things were different? What if they swung through Athens, GA instead of DC? What if they asked a very gay version of Fred Schneider to audition instead of Henry? Things could have turned out very different.

The results would probably be something like Black Fag - my new favorite band-of-the-week. The above scenario isn't exactly what happened here, but it sure sounds close. Their cd is 10 of Black Flag's earliest songs, totally gayed-up. The music is as heavy and powerful as the real thing and the lyrics are 90% the same, but the voice is stereotypically over-the-top gay, with the occasional "Sister!" and "Hello!" thrown in. It brings a whole new perspective on "Jealous Again".

And to be honest - the singer (Liberace Morris) occasionally sounds like Jello.

Someone please bring these guys to DC.


Thanks to The Punk Vault for pointing these guys out.

The return of Blowoff was fun - as usual. Uncomfortably crowded though. Still a good time. It's the one place where all my different little cliques of friends converge. Gotta love that. I miss the live set. I hope that returns this fall. The new cd is terrific. Go buy it.

Rustbuckit put on a great show on Sunday. Rock and Roll just for the fun of it. Check them out at The Red and the Black on November 9. Geezer rock rules.

Got a new phone today. I asked if they had a 60-minutes/month plan that would let me rollover my unused 50-minutes/month. The girl looked at me like I had two heads. I was only half-kidding. I only use my phone for two things: 1) calling Dinger to tell him I'm on the way home - start dinner, and 2) texting my friends at shows asking "Where are you?". That's it. Feel free to send dirty pictures to my phone.

In a fit of computer rage I ripped a piece of paper out of my jammed printer. Now it's totally broken. I should know better than that.

My cold is 99% gone. Life is much better now.

Busy weekend ahead. CD release parties for Cedars, Two If By Sea and The Hard Tomorrows. Also Little Steven's garage-band thing at The Black Cat. More on that later. All you really need to know is that The Fleshtones are involved. That's all I need to get me to show up.

Speaking of The Fleshtones:

Right Side Of A Good Thing
Smash Crash

Those of you interested in the old-school DC punk days of yore should checkout Rustbuckit tonight at The Black Cat. Rustbuckit features the likes of Boyd Farrell and Mike Dolfi (both formerly of Black Market Baby). You know that means trouble. And I mean that in a good way.

Their MySpace page describes their sound as "Classic 70's punk with a twist of metal..." That's about right, I guess. In classic BMB form, it's a bit hard to put into any one category. Checkout the songs they have on their page.

Should be a great show. Come check 'em out.

The best party in DC returns tonight.

If you can't make it, buy the new CD here.
Download "Life With a View" here.


You should go though. All the cool kids will be there.
And they're all hotties.

I was gonna have a long, heartfelt post about 9/11, but just thinking about what I was gonna say started to upset me too much.

So on a completely different note...I'll just point out that if you mis-type the URL for my blog, there's a decent chance you'll end up here.

I somehow manage to end up there at least once a day.

Ugh. I can't seem to shake this cold. I actually feel pretty good, except for a few sniffles. That, and this damn frog in my throat that makes me sound like Carol Schwartz. Unfortunately, it looks like I may have passed my cold on to Dinger. Sorry about that.

Frog or not - I did manage to make it to The Black Cat to catch Radio Birdman the other night. Being that they haven't ever played the U.S. in their 32 years of existence, I wasn't going to miss it. Holy cow were they great. They hit the stage blazing and never let up. At times sounding like pre-Goth Damned, other times channeling The Stooges (quite literally, with a "Search and Destroy" encore) they just tore the place apart. I know the tour is almost over, but if you get a chance - you should definitely check them out.

Despite the fact that it was criminally undersold, this may have been the smokiest show I've ever seen at The Cat. Maybe the Afrin was making me hypersensitive to it, but it was almost unbearable. I actually went outside for a few minutes to get away from it. I'd almost swear there were people smoking two cigarettes at once. Blech.

The Frog is causing me to skip the WSC/Dance Party show at Iota tonight. You should go though. It's gonna be dance-tastic.

Nobody bothers me
Nobody bothers me
Nobody bothers me eitheeeeeeer!

We drove 200 miles in pouring rain.
The next day we sat in 55-degree rain for over 2 hours watching the football game.
My cell phone is now dead, having sat in my water-logged pocket for those 2 hours.
I now have a cold.
The Days Inn was $220+/night.





It was worth it.

Grilled Stickies from The Diner at Penn State.