The Last Pogo Jumps Again

Cardboard Brains;  photo by Vince Carlucci

Former Cardboard Brains guitar-slinger Vince Carlucci‘s got stuff in a gallery!  “Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell” is a collection of pretty pics he took from 1977 to 1980.   Artists include Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Deborah Harry, Patti Smith, John Cale, The Viletones, Teenage Head, The Ugly, Cardboard Brains, The Ramones, Frank Zappa, and The Diodes.  Opening night is Thursday, June 10, from seven ’til eleven, and it runs to June 24.  Oz Studios, 134 Ossington, curated by photographer Joe Fuda.

Classic!

Once you’ve taken a look at some of Vince’s pics, you should not miss Andy (Adny) Shernoff, ex-Dictator and ex-cellent songwriter as he spins tales and plays acoustic guitar at Mitzi’s Sister in Toronto, starts at ten.   Teenage Head’s Gord Lewis opens.  If you can’t catch Adny in Toronto, he’s also doing “When Giants Walked The Earth — A Musical Memoir By Andy Shernoff” at Call the Office in London on June 11th, and  This Ain’t Hollywood in Hamilton on June 12.  Were The Dictators one of the best bands to come out of the U.S. of A?  Absolutely.  Did their roadie turned lead singer name himself after the province and/or state that most resembled a penis?  Sure did.  (Sorry, Florida, you just don’t cut it next to studly Manitoba.)  And did Andy write some of the funniest lyrics ever?  You bet:

“Oh Weekend
Bobby is a local punk
Cuttin’ school and getting drunk
Eating at Mcdonald’s for lunch

Oh Weekend
Soon he threw up in the store
But if he does it anymore
I’ll make him eat it off the floor.

The Horseshoe Tavern, June 1978.  So far we’re batting .500 on interviews from this poster.

We’re trying to work out an interview, and dying to ask the question that has been on many a Dictators’ fan’s mind:  Just wtf is a two tub man?  Check out The Andy Shernoff Appreciation Society on Facebook for dates in the States.

Meanwhile, while you’re all out there looking at pictures and listening to stories about growing up with Johnny Thunders and stuff, we’re working people!  Tomorrow night co-director Kire Paputts tracks down The Diodes.  News at eleven.

They got booed and heckled at their first Toronto gig, opening for Talking Heads in September 1977.    But first-wavers The Scenics are taking another kick at the can after thirty years as they hit the stage of the El Mocambo Tuesday, October 13 to kick off a five date tour in synch with the release of their new CD, Sunshine World.    Seven measly bucks gets you in the door, and you get a copy of the CD as well, and you know that they’re going to play their hearts out, and of course lots of beer and old friends.

Sunshine World was culled from 300 hours of tapes The Scenics made during their run from 76 – 82, and features studio-recorded tunes from ’77 and ’78.    Friends of The Last Pogo Jumps Again still scratch our heads at the lack of recognition The Scenics got back in the day (sentiments shared by, amongst others, Scenic pals Talking Heads drum/bass combo Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz.  A few years after the Scenics infamously opened for The Talking Heads at The Garys’ New Yorker Theatere, Tina and Chris said to Ken and Andy after hearing about their woes:  “What? I thought you guys would’ve made it by now.”

Ironically, most people point to the opening gig for Talking Heads at the New Yorker as the first and final straw in their relationship with the other scenesters and musicians.

September 16, 1977;  courtesy Molten Core.

Everyone wanted that gig, and promoters The Garys — who would later manage The Scenics — thought it would be a great surprise to have this great band come out of nowhere (y’know, as opposed to ones that might’ve been around for two months, lol) and be the opening act.  A special treat for the loyal fans of this new thing called New Wave and Punk.   But…not so much.  There were rude catcalls from the audience — “Boring!” — and The Scenics lost potential friends and fans as soon as the handbill promoting the show was stapled around town.

The show itself was great, but there was real resentment, and The Scenics became outsiders in a group of outsiders.  It wasn’t like they were pelted with eggs, mind you, but apart from fast friends like The Demics and some others, The Scenics somehow didn’t fit follow the cryptically infused rulebook on emerging new-wave/punk rock bands.  But sticks ‘n’ stones and fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke.  The Scenics just wanted to make music.  They didn’t dress the part, go to the right parties, or even do the right drugs.  It was all about creating music. They would rehearse and jam for hours upon hours week after week and play in every bar in Toronto, only to break it up in the early eighties, defeated by geography (Ken Badger lived in the country, and had a family and everything) and partially due to a pronounced lack of recognition, apart from their loyal yet tiny fan base. (Hi Gary!  Hi Blair!)

Courtesy Molten Core

Flash forward a few decades, and songwriting/frontman partner Ken Badger (he of the auto-asphyxiated singing style) sends songwriting/frontman partner Andy Ramesh Meyers a shoebox of tapes.  (The Scenics recorded everything.)  Andy starts to listen to them.  Obsessively.  Ken and Andy  put together an audacious collection of live Velvet Underground covers called How Does it Feel to Be Loved, and it gets critical kudos from colleges and newspapers, and a vote for the Best CD of 2008 for The Village Voices Pazz & Jop Poll from respected critic and ex-Creem Magazine staffer Jeffrey Morgan (author of the just-released official bio of Iggy Pop) who just drools over it, and it charts at colleges in Canada and the U.S.

Getting a taste of the kind of respect ‘n’ recognition that so ably avoided them during their initial run, The Scenics are inspired.   Andy and Ken call up former members Mark Perkell and Mike Young and start to make plans.  First up is the release of the Velvet’s cover CD, then a few gigs in Toronto (including The Last Pogo’s 30th Anniversary Bash.)   Apart from the new tour and the CD, The Scenics are also going to start podcasting Punk Haiku, Andy’s memoirs from the late seventies punk days, and will be putting together a new CD of new material soon.

Ken Badger in 2008;  photo by Edie Stiener

Andy Meyers in 2008;  photo Kevin Lamb

The staff at The Last Pogo Jumps Again had a chance to have a sneak read of the first one, and it’s great;  you’re right there.  One of our favourite stories is of their quest for the perfect drummer.   After going through a couple that didn’t work out, they get a new guy, and start to rehearse.  In the middle of a song, the drummer has an epileptic seizure, Ken later remarking “Gee.  I thought he finally got it.”  Check out their site in our list on the right hand side.

If you miss them in Toronto (don’t!) they’ll be in Ottawa, Montreal, London, and Hamilton in the next week.

For a much more thorough write-up of The Scenics, check out Steve McLean’s excellent blog.  Cut and paste this http://stevemclean.blogspot.com/2009/10/scenics-i-have-to-review-gaslight.html

There’s a whole pile of vets blowing through town in the next month, and it’s back to school time.   So grab your notebooks and some fake i.d. and get ready to watch some punk pioneers throw it down.  Sit down, shut up and learn.  Or stay home and shave the baby.

Cheetah Chrome, ex-Dead Boy and Rocket from the Tombs, will be playing with Toronto’s premiere punk cover band (originals too, yo) The Screwed (and hopefully continuing to entertain and enlighten his Facebook friends with his steady rotation of vintage band videos, and rants against TV mental case Glen Beck.)

They’ll be playing This Ain’t Hollywood, the new bar in the Hammer (named with a tip o’ the hate to Mickey de Sadist who lent them the Forgotten Rebels‘ title) run by DJ and all-round dude Lou Molinaro) on Friday, September 25th.   The next night the distinguished gang drives down the Gardner to Toronto to play some more at The Cadillac Lounge.   Need lunch, much?

On October 2nd at Sneaky Dees in Toronto, New York Junk (with home-grown gal Cynthia Ross of the B-Girls) share the bill with Walter Lure (ex-Heartbreakers) jamming (are we allowed to say that yet?) with Teenage Head’s Gord Lewis and Steve Mahon.  Walter wrote and sang half of the Heartbreakers’ tunes with the late and legendary Johnny Thunders, and formed the band Waldo (who at least a couple of bloggers likening it to what The Heartbreakers could’ve sounded like had they been able to continue) with a revolving door of players, an uncanny amount of whom died along the way  “…but of natural causes these days….though…what’s natural about death anyway?” mused Walter in an interview last year.

And not only did Walter survive the Heartbreakers and continue on with this own band The Waldos — their excellent first album produced by The Dictators Adny Shernoff (we’re not worthy!) — but he also went on to a comfortable day job as a Wall Street stockfuckingbroker!    Which, when you think about it, isn’t such a leap.  We assume the awesome Walter wears his trademark yellow tie (and maybe the jacket with the dollar signs) at both jobs.  Walter Lure, Gordie Lewis, Steve Mahon, you gotta go.    It’ll be guitarded!

September 78 at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto

Gord Lewis of Teenage Head has kept busy since the (apparent) break-up of Teenage Head following singer Frankie Venom‘s untimely death last October.   This Ain’t Hollywood features regular Gord Lewis Songbook nights at the club, and Gord’s played a few gigs with Blue Coupe, the super-group kinda thing featuring Blue Oyster Cult‘s Joe and Albert Bouchard and Alice Cooper‘s Dennis Dunaway.   We’re hoping to catch an interview with Teenage Head road manager Rob Gronfors this fall.

Handbill courtesy Imants Krumins

The Scenics hit the road in October, timed to the release of Sunshine World, their remastered collection of tunes originally recorded in 1977/1978.   While they’re revamping their website (listed on the right) you can check out a half-dozen songs at their MySpace place at http://www.myspace.com/scenicsmusic.   They’ll play a number of gigs equal to one beer short of a six-pack, at the Toronto’s El Mocambo on October 13th;  Ottawa, the 14th, Montreal the 15th,  Call the Office in London on the 17th, and then finishing it at This Ain’t Hollywood in Hamilton, October 18th.

Meanwhile The Scenics singer/writer Ramesh Andy Meyers will premiere his new radio show Allowed Sound on Saturday, September 26, 7 – 9pm,  doing a show like FM radio used to be, eclectic:  Talking Heads, Bill Frisell, Hank Williams, Pere Ubu, etc.  Don’t touch that dial.

Ramesh Andy Meyers with assistant Noah Webster in their studios on Salt Spring Island.

Pogo H.Q. got a text message from management company Invisible Hands‘ Charlie, letting us know that ex-Strangler Hugh Cornwell was in the midst of a North American tour, and would be playing Hamilton’s This Ain’t Hollywood tonight (September 15th) and Toronto’s Mod Club tomorrow night (September 16th.)

The palm tree lined streets of Hamilton, Ontario; photo by Michael Hrysko

We had the pleasure of interview Hugh last summer during SXSW, and manager Charlie attended the screening of The Last Pogo (“You know who I really liked?  The first band that was on…” (The Scenics.)   Hugh was affable and candid about life with The Guildford Stranglers, his former drug addiction, and his new high, endorphins.

Hugh and Charlie have embraced the Brave New World of digi-this-and-that — click on the link to the right and get a free download of Hugh’s latest album Hooverdam.  And Charlie’s into this “texting” thing the kids love so much.  And sad to say, even though we can blog away sitting in the luxurious lounge of Pogo H.Q...uh…we didn’t know how to text him back.

Pogo H.Q. staff ooh and ahh over Charlie’s text message.

Suffice to say, these are definitely shows worth checking out.   And for anyone who reads this blog, but aren’t in the vicinity, here’s some other dates:

How most people react to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame

Friday, September 18th — Cleveland, The Beachland Ballroom

Saturday, September 19th — Milwaukee, Shank Hall

Chicago, 1930

Sunday, September 20th — Chicago, The Abbey

Tuesday, September 22nd – Minneapolis,  The 400 Bar

Wednesday, September 23rd — Winnipeg, The Pyramid

Patients and staff  from Manitoba’s Gimli Hospital are hoping to see Hugh live in Winnipeg.