2026 .. yeah it's almost over...

Check Check... this thing on? yeah, anyway I have had another crazy year, sold our house, moved into a new place... Still reading comics, watching films & TV, listening to podcast and music... 

I have a project in mind that I want to get into in 2027 that I might come back here to mention... but we will see if that comes about... 

Mid 2026.. and I remembered to check in on this blog...

 And that's about it.. the last several months have been dealing with renovations and getting my house ready to sell, work and a few trips... B -Fest,  April Ghouls Monster-Rama and Heroes Con... 

If you read this... I hope you are well... 

Welcome to 2025

 Bye Bye the trash trauma year of 2024.... 

anyway.. this year... my plan... 

read more books and comics, watch more TV and Film and listen to more music.... 

likely that I will get back to blogging often... not much... but if you are checking in... I hope you are well... 

Welcome to 2024

 hey look... it is Jan 1, 2024 and this blog that I started way way back in 2007? (I didn't look) is still live and I am posting.... 




so this started as me looking for work.. and I am on my 3rd job since the start of this thing.... 



anyway, most of what I care to post about has been related to books, music and films... but the last couple of years I have returned to one of my early Pop Culture loves... Comic Books.. and I do mean Comic Books as in Floppies, single issues,  the kind that when I started following them were $0.60 a issue and you could buy at the Drug Store......... 

anyway.. most of my on line stuff is me posting my comic pick ups on Tic Tok... 




but for anyone that still looks at this blog... here are a few of the comics from the past year that I really did enjoy... 

IDW Endless Summer Dungeons & Dragons: Saturday Morning Adventures #1 - this is more what I wanted from the series, but didn't get... just a better than it needed to be single issue... IDW.. more of this please

I Am Stan By Tom Scioli - the ideal yang to  Scioli’s  Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics this is a great look at the life of Stan Lee without rose colored glasses…. here is hoping that we get more Scioli going bios of comic creators who impacted the form… 

Danger Street #9

I really liked this issue that is a single fight and a lot of talking.. it worked for me…. 

Usagi Yojimbo: Ice and Snow #3

Usagi is always good.. but this issue was one of the best…. the showdown between the antagonists really worked and was creepy in a way that I don’t expect from Usagi…. really great comics… 

Ain’t It Fun: Peter Laughner & Proto-Punk in the Secret City ... I am still reading this one... but it is easily my fave comic/OGN of the year...if you are a fan of punk, comics or the Rust Belt art scene of the 70s/80s check it out. 

shout outs: 

GI Joe- both Duke #1 and GI Joe: ARAH #301 & #302 

Birds of Prey

Santos Sisters

Parker Girls

Exciting Comics, Horror Comics, Planet Comics from Antarctic Press

The Amazing Spider-Man #121 & #122 Facsimile Editions

all books/ series I enjoyed this year.... 

is this thing on?

 it has been a while, a long while... but I figured I would just simply post that mostly these days I am doing some posting over on Tick Tok. 

anyone interested can find me  at 
@irenzero9

Transmit... receive... restless thoughts..

 .... start unedited transmission....

It has been a while.. 

Welcome to Pandemic World... and I am still here... 

anyway what I have I been up to in the last year and a half or what ever since my last post??

New Job, I won't go into that.. but still watching films, youtube and TV, still listening to music, podcasts and reading... these days it is a lot of comics

I don't have anything long form to say this time around... just checking in... 

recommendations:

Youtube: Trash Theory, Todd in the Shadows, Red Letter Media

Comics: IDW GI Joe (written by Larry Hama), The Marvels, Love and Rockets

Music: Alice Cooper - Detroit Stories, Albert Bouchard - Re Imaginos

2019 in the final weeks..

it's been a while.. a long while.. but I am still poking around the web.. my run at Love that Album podcast is coming to an end..  by my choice... and I have slowed down the youtube output, mainly do to time, energy and life commitments.

as we head into 2020, I hope that I can return to this blog more often.

I have been toying with the notion of a place that collects upcoming reissues of stuff..

with Valancourt Books  and their Paperbacks from Hell  ) 

Stark House Press and their reissues along with their Black Gat books

Hard Case Crime who has been in the reissue biz since their launch

the up coming  Library of Congress Crime Classics

it seems like the reissue of older forgotten work has started in full.

the recent Slate article on the work of Sci Fi/ Fantasy writer John M Ford  has gathered a fair amount of attention by people that pay attention to the overlooked, forgotten and out of print works.. shows to me that there is an interest in rediscovering that which has been out of sight and out of mind.

and this is just in the world of genre fiction.. there is still an interest in films, just look at the interest in the films that inspired Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and of course the rediscovery of music that has been out of print continues as we see LP and digital reissues of that which has been lost, forgotten, overlooked and too often a head of it's time.

anyway.. I hope to have more to record here in the future.. if you stopped by to take a look, thanks and fell free to leave a comment..

boo... I have always been here before

Ok not sure anyone is reading this.. that's not really the point.

I haven't been posting consistently for a while..

It hasn't been on the top of my list of things to do.. and I am not sure what I want to be saying here currently.


The truth seems to be that blog fade.. and wane and all of that..

but I got an alert asking if I still wanted e-mails when someone leave a comment..

so this post is really just to keep the blog site alive..

My you tube channel

Pretty much these days I do the video blog thing over at youtube.. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG8B9UzFqKkpkygHesiv3fQ

here's my latest

The Jet Black Berries - Macumba Love

The Jet Black Berries - from their Sundown on Venus album... very much in the vein of the Cramps or the Gun Club.. check it out.

5 months later....

and I am back to just note... as I noted before that I am still doing the podcast thing, and the youtube thing... I am still out there...

Youtube Channel and podcasts

While it has been a long while since I have posted anything big here I have been busy with a couple of things..


1st I have been filling in on episodes of the Love That Album podcast...

most recently John Ross from the Feed My Ears facebook page and I covered a album from the band Screaming Trees and the Mad Season album from 1995.

http://lovethatalbum.blogspot.com/2016/06/love-that-album-podcast-episode-91.html

the month before that Tim Merrill (of the See Hear podcast)  and I talked about Small Parts Isolated And Destroyed by Nomeansno and Feel The Darkness by Poison Idea.

http://lovethatalbum.blogspot.com/2016/05/love-that-album-episode-90-nomeansnos.html


also I have been making media related videos for my youtube channel...

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG8B9UzFqKkpkygHesiv3fQ

so this time around, just a round up of other places I have been doing stuff... but if you stop by thanks for doing so... and at some point I will get back to the blogging.

still ... still ... still

it's been a while since I have updated this blog. I am still here, and I still have plans.. but it's that time, energy and having a half way thought out and considered something to say..  so sooner or later I will have a new post.

Day Dream Albums- Alejandro Escovedo

Day Dream Albums- Alejandro Escovedo 

Note: if you want to know what this is all about check out my intro post…

Alejandro Escovedo is and artist who it took me some time to get into.. Which is strange cause I have been a fan of his earlier bands, The Nuns and Rank & File for a long time. He’s that rare animal of today’s music scene who can both rock out and also comfortably sit in with the roots rock set. It’s the mix of Glam, Punk, Folk and Country that makes him something more than just another aging punk headed towards the roots rock world.  All of which is to say if I got to work with him on a covers album, these are the songs I would bring to the table.

Drivin’n’Cryin – Toy Never Played with

Jet Black Berries- Fatherly Advice

King’s X- Summerland

(No Video)

The Divine Horsemen- Middle of the Night

(ok not the video for the song... but this will give you an idea of what they sound like)

Blood on the Saddle- I thought I heard some Thunder

Legal Weapon – Equalizer

Guadalcanal Diary- Watusi Rodeo

 

Foster & Lloyd – Texas in 1880

Stan Ridgeway – The Big Heat

Animal Bag – Cheerful Mary in the Rain

Screaming Trees- Dollar Bill

 (no video)

Gen X – Kiss Me Deadly

  (no video)

Dead Moon – City of Lights

The Hellacopters – By the Grace of God

(No video)

The Staggers – Bottom of the Bottle

Day Dream Albums- Lydia Loveless

Note: if you want to know what this is all about check out my intro post…

 One of the great new voices in Alt Country, Lydia Loveless has become one of my favorite current artists out there on the road and making records. Check out her cover of Echo & The Bunnymen: "The Killing Moon"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYqzFuborPw

lydialoveless.com

         So if you have read the past entries in the series you know how this works… these are the songs I would bring to the table if I were able to work on a covers album project with Lydia…

Legal Weapon – Like A Rose

Drivin’n’Cryin – Blue Ridge Way

(no video)

Rank’n’File – Long Gone Dead

(no video)

Jet Black Berries – Color of Your Name

King’s X – Goldilox

Atomic Opera – Justice

Velvet Hammer – Kansas

The Damned – Street of Dreams

Shakespeare Sister – Stay

Jackson Phibes – Requiem for a Bug-a-Boo

(No video)

Blood on the Saddle – One Step Away

(No Video)

Atomic Swindlers – Float

The Stooges – Gimmie Danger

Wall of Voodoo – Call of the West

The Violators – Summer of ‘81

Patricia Vonne – Rebel Bride

Pearl Jam – Porch

Fire Inc – Nowhere Fast

So there it is the list

Disclaimer: this is all a album I day dream about making, there is no plans or talks of any of this happening...

Old SXSW discoveries....

so once upon a time I was a member of mog.com and posted there often for a couple of years.... 

one of the things that I did each year was to go through the SXSW offerings and look for new bands.. here's an old list of stuff I found.. and liked

Craighead County Sky By Abalone Dots

White As Diamonds By Alela Diane

Cornbread By The Band of Heathens

One Horse Down By Baskery

Deerslayer By Black Math Horseman

Woman in Uniform By Bogart & the Addictives

They Call Me Hopeless Destroyer By Brimstone Howl

Up And Down By The Chesterfield Kings

The Plank By The Devil Makes Three

Lookout By Dexter Romweber Duo

Trouble By The Dirt Drifters

My Best Friend's Hot By The Dollyrots

Ballad Of The Red-Legged Hawk's Fountain By Eagle Winged Palace

No Home The By Ettes

Country Bat High II By Golden Boots

Troubles Like Mine By Gun Outfit

Driftwood 40-23 By Hickoids

Dead Men Tell No Tales By The Hudsons

Keep In Touch By Jaakko & Jay

Battlescar ByJohnny Goudie and The Little Champions-

GIRL AT THE END OF THE BAR By Jon Langford And The Pine Valley Cosmonauts

Midnight At The Movies By Justin Townes Earle

Gloom Doom Buttercups By Kittens Ablaze

AMONG THE SURVIVORS By The Latebirds

Angry at the Sun The By Lost Brothers

Give Em What They Want By The Love Me Nots

Portable Freak Factory By Major Stars

lonely Kind By Mitch Webb and the Swindles

Daughters Of Heavy By Murder

Wet Gold By The Octopus Project

Call and Response By Or, the Whale

Making Gestures By The Pack A.D.

Prehistoric Dog By Red Fang

I'm Your Negative By River City Tanlines

Uplifter By Thee Headliners

Dirtied Your Knees By Thrift Store Cowboys

All Shook Up By Til We're Blue Or Destroy

Through Unto The End By Trainwreck Riders

Viva La Vinyl By Twilight Hotel

This Is Our Perfect Crime By The Von Bondies

Crazy By Whitey Morgan and the 78's

Hard Times In America By Willie Nile

When Lost At Sea By The Wooden Sky

Day Dream Albums- Kevn Kinney

Note: if you want to know what this is all about check out my intro post…

Kevn Kinney is the singer and and guitarist, best known for fronting the Alt Southern Rock  band Drivin N Cryin. He's also done solo work that falls into the folk, alt country, blues and rock genres.  I have been a fan since hearing Drivin N Cryin back in the early 90s. Kinney has the chops for all kinds of sounds and music from whispered folk to booming heavy metal. If I had a chance to work on a covers album with him these are the songs I would pitch.


The Jet Black Berries - Murder

The Divine Horsemen - Devils River

King's X - Far Far Away

Stan Ridgway - Driver She Said

Mark Pickerel and His Praying Hands - Cody's Dream

I couldn't find a video for this song... but here's a taste of Pickerel's muisc 

Mother Love Bone - Man of Golden Words

Temple of the Dog - Pushing Forward Back 

Rank N File - Rank n File

Blood on the Saddle - Colt .45

Forbidden Dimension - House of 1000 Dolls
hey no video of course... someone needs to get on that..

Screaming Trees- Winter Song





The Chickenhawks -  Fuck Minneapolis

no video for this one


The Bottle Rockets - $1000 Car




James McMurty - Lights of Cheyenne

King's X  - Mission

Steve Earl - Copperhead Road

so there it is the list

Disclaimer: this is all a album I day dream about making, there is no plans or talks of any of this happening...

Day Dream Album - Janelle Monáe

Note: if you want to know what this is all about check out my intro post…

Janelle Monáe is the odd ball artist in the world of Hip Hop/ Dance Music of the current era that I like. She's got a great voice, an interesting perspective on music and appears to do what she wants with her style, her music and her image. I dig her Sci Fi inspired concept album  The ArchAndroid which is well worth checking out.

so IF I was able to pitch her a batch of songs for a covers album these are the ones I would go with....

Silverbullit - Magnetic City

Jet Black Berries- Articles 

no video for this one... but it's a song about the Burroughs book Cities of the Red Nights...

The Atomic Swindlers - Into the Strange

also no video... but the band featured members of the Jet Black Berries going in a more Hawkwind/ 70s Bowie direction.... well worth checking out... you can here samples of the bands music here 

Galactic Cowboys - Sea of Tranquility 

Fire Inc. - Nowhere Fast

The Blasters - Blue Shadows 

Zolar X - Back in L.A

so this video is more of a history of the band, but it kinda gives you an idea of their sound.

Leningrad Cowboys - Where´s the Moon

The Epoxies-  Everything Looks Beautiful On Video

Scorpions - Robot Man

The Screaming Tribesmen - Igloo

Concrete Blonde - Sky Is A Poisonous Garden

Suicide - Cheree

Theatre of Hate -- Do You Believe In The Westworld?

so there it is the list

Disclaimer: this is all a album I day dream about making, there is no plans or talks of any of this happening...

Day Dream Albums- Whitey Morgan

Note: if you want to know what this is all about check out my intro post…

I have been following the work of Whitey Morgan for a couple of years and he's got a new album out, Sonic Ranch, that is one of the best new things I have heard this year. I like that he's got that old school Waylon Jennings / 70s Outlaw country feel and his Michigan roots appeal to me. His music is what I want to put in the hands of everyone who laments that the modern country has become so pop and bland... anyway you can check him out here

so as with the rest of the posts in this series if I was able to sit down and plan out a cover's album with Whitey here is the songs I would bring to the table...

Nolan McKelvey- Michigan

- there is no video for this one, but you can hear a sample on the above link at CD baby and here is the link for Nolan's youtube channel where you can hear the rest of his work (youtube link)

Waylon Jennings- Omaha

Johnny Cash- You Wild Colorado 

Hoyt Axton- The Devil

Stompin Tom Connors- I Don't Know How Fix the Damn Things Blues (Handy Man Blues)

Blood on the Saddle- Police Siren

The Jet Black Berries- Lonesome Code

Legal Weapon- City in Tears

another one with no video...  so here's where you can get the info on the album it came from

http://www.discogs.com/Legal-Weapon-Take-Out-The-Trash/master/190429

Drivin’n’Cryin- Detroit City

The Divine Horsemen- What is Red

No video on this one either... 

but here's more info on the album 

http://www.discogs.com/Divine-Horsemen-Snake-Handler/master/218205

The Gun Club- Devil in the Woods

Guadalcanal Diary- Dead Eyes

The Coffinshakers- Pale Man in Black

The Flamin’ Sideburns- Lonesome Rain

another one I couldn't find the video for ... but here's the more info link 

http://www.discogs.com/Flaming-Sideburns-Hallelujah-RocknRollah/master/124103

Color Me Psycho- 13 is my Lucky Number

shocking I know but also no video...  but you can hear it here

http://www.calgarycassettes.org/2007/11/writing-on-stone-alberta-compilation.html

Roy and the Devils Motorcycle- Dark Sunday Evening

Simon Stokes- Amazons and Coyotes

and a last one without a video... but well you know the drill by now..

http://www.discogs.com/Simon-Stokes-Honky/release/5627926

so there it is the list

Disclaimer: this is all a album I day dream about making, there is no plans or talks of any of this happening...