Addicted to Bad Ideas

I could barely believe my ears when World/Inferno Friendship Society released an album actually called Addicted to Bad Ideas. No band has influenced BIPL as World/Inferno has. We don't know what they would have to say about that but we aren't really concerned either. I was skeptical about these purported anarcho-cabaretists before they played the Double Down in Las Vegas. And, while the band didn't break anything (during the set at least), they did bravely cross the forbidding desert to reach us on a Tuesday night and after the show lead singer, Jack Terrycloth, taught my friend Jamaal to waltz. I was inspired.

And now the mad punk orchestra from Brooklyn/New Jersey has given us this. It's a biographical concept album dealing with the life and times of Peter Lorre. You know. The creepy guy from Casablanca. The lyrics contain the grand justification/raison de etre: "Because I can/There's no one to stop me/Because it makes up for things I lost/Because I'm addicted to bad ideas and all the beauty in this world/" set to a typically swooney, swelling melody. Bask in the liberation of deeply-flawed logic. No, really. Sometimes it's the only way.

I am forever indebted to BIPL advice columnist, Hank Musgrove, for introducing me to this band. Notably, lead singer Jack Terrycloth also has an advice column which can be read on the band's website. Coincidence?

Slade v. the Monkeys

September of 2007 found me in Memphis for Gonerfest, a week-long festival put on by Goner Records celebrating the kind of garage rock and power pop that makes you feel violated and then makes you blame yourself.

It's all a hopeless blur of humidity and horizontal stripes but this picture for the band Top Ten's set does it some justice:



The only way I know it was real is because I still have this copy of a book called Slade Vs. the Monkeys, which I do remember buying at Goner Records.

It's a collection of rock caricatures by someone named Crowbar. Some of the drawings, such as "Beatle zombies eating Chuck Berry's brains," invite an allegorical reading. Others, like "Jerry Lee Lewis riding a crab through a pubic forest" and "James Brown blowing up a beached whale," are clearly just innocent fun. Either way, these are some of the finest art works I have ever encountered.

You can get it here: http://www.goner-records.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2741

If you are ever in Memphis for any reason, eat as much as possible and go to the Stax museum.

Slade v. the Monkeys

September of 2007 found me in Memphis for Gonerfest, a week-long festival put on by Goner Records celebrating the kind of garage rock and power pop that makes you feel violated and then makes you blame yourself.

It's all a hopeless blur of humidity and horizontal stripes but this picture does it some justice:

I know it was real because I still have this copy of a book called Slade Vs. the Monkeys, which I do remember buying at Goner Records.
It's a collection of rock caricatures by someone named Crowbar. Some of the drawings, such as "Beatle zombies eating Chuck Berry's brains," invite an allegorical reading. Others, like "Jerry Lee Lewis riding a crab through a pubic forest" and "James Brown blowing up a beached whale" are clearly just innocent fun. Either way, these are some of the finest artworks I have ever encountered.
You can get it here:http://www.goner-records.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2741
If you are ever in Memphis for any reason eat as much as possible and go to the Stax museum.

BIPL review of zines!

I bought Next Stop Adventure #2 from the author, Matt Gauck, who was manning the merch table at a Circle Takes the Square show in Las Vegas. It's an impulse purchase I don't regret because, months later, this account of his meandering , barely-planned bicycle trip from North Carolina to Oregon kept me entertained for two snow-bound days in a Flagstaff Quality Inn.

Throughout the low-budget cross-country ride and a few flashbacks, Gauck trespasses, dumpsters and scams his way into food, shelter and Lollapalooza. I don't want to tell you how it ends but I will say I don't think he's sorry yet.

The little book features charming illustrations and a self-deprecating sense of humor. The humor makes this zine worth reading even if you don't give a damn about bikes or adventure. And the total lack of a DIY-er-than-thou attitude may just subtly influence you to start taking an interest.

In sections with such titles as "Incredible Moments in Vagrancy," Gauck freely admits that much of what takes place, and perhaps the plan itself, is sheer idiocy. Then he gently reminds the reader that, yes, he or she can do it too.

This publication approves.

BIPL is now eagerly checking the mail for Next Stop Adventure #1.

You can get it from Microcosm Publishing:
http://www.microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines/2231/

Or from the author:
www.thedreamerandthefool.com

Old News

It's been about nine months since the last post. The tragedy of this is that they have been prime months for exactly the sort of things we like to share with you at Bad Idea Potluck.

So prime, in fact, that I am now unemployed and living in Atlanta.
My boyfriend, who will be upset to have been mentioned here, had to move. I saw a golden opportunity to destabilize my life. Road trip!

We got my car, his truck, a U-Haul, a lot of records and a neurotic fifteen-pound cat
to Atlanta. This is despite car accident-inducing chaos during a blizzard in the mountains outside of Flagstaff, a Bahai faith-theme diner in Flagstaff, sopapillas and and a hostess in Austin so delicious we very nearly jettisoned our theoretical destination and an animatronic Lyndon Baines Johnson at the LBJ presidential library.

He was dressed as a cowboy and telling jokes. It could have been the end of us all but the museum was closing.

Whatever hit me after I slid off the road outside Flagstaff busted my tail light and my trunk up pretty bad. But the light still works and so far packaging tape is keeping the whole back end marginally street-legal.

You may fear I might not have the same opportunities here for the breathtaking stupidity I enjoyed in Las Vegas. But I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
You see, I have already purchased a refurbished fixed-gear bike. It's a little rusty and unbalanced but the paint job is killer.

So far I have met with no major mishap. Stay tuned. I have a lot of time on my hands.

In the mean time, please consider the day's posts a recap of 2007's Bad Idea Highlights. Or: The Year In Things We Would Probably Do the Same Way Over Again But Only Because We Couldn't Stop Ourselves.

For my part, I am unscathed and have learned a lot about commas, I think.