WORKER’S PRIDE?

I was never a great one for the idea of the Dignity of Labor. It seemed like one of those patronizing Victorian concepts like the Noble Savage and I wanted nothing to do with it. To be absolutely truthful, I was not especially keen on hard, dirty, manual work in any shape or form. In my youth, I had worked in factories, kitchens, and even dug up the roads for the local council. I saw first hand the disdain with which the fat cats treated their employees and their employees’ pride, and quickly realized that any measure of dignity was not a gift handed down from on-high but a prize fought-for and hard-won at the grass roots by organization and the collective power of trade unions official or otherwise. Why am choosing this moment to state the obvious? Just because, now and again, the obvious needs a bit of stating. Especially at a time when a power elite that has already reduced to wealth to an abstraction and devalues labor as a disposable commodity – and dares to call it necessary austerity – but simultaneously a new seismic class-struggle spreads across Europe, the Middle East, and (I hope) Middle America, and the fight for decency, dignity, and pride, plus a socially acceptable income, healthcare, education – and all that should follow with humanity and civilization – is rejoined.

Click here for hardworking Beefheart and Cooder

The secret word is Unity

IS THIS HOW THE CONSPIRACY STARTED?

GRATUITOUS P. J. HARVEY

Click here to Maketh Murder

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

Wanda Frozdick was both gratuitous and dangerous.

SUNDAY BREAKFAST

May I have one of these beside the bed, nurse? So Finn and I can gorge on pancakes while we ruminate on the upcoming adventure in the corporate mists of Avalon and what might lay beyond in creativity, theatre, and mayhem? The band played like aces on Friday night. One witness on Facebook (our poet pal Ben Graham) referred to us as “The Edgar Allan Poe Blues Band”. That made me very happy. And so now it’s on to Glastonbury and whatever that may reveal for possible futures. But how do we resolve that with the news that the biggest industrial action since the 1926 General Strike looms large a few days later? The shit still piles up so fast you need wings to stay above it, comrades. But could you mix me a Bloody Mary while you’re up?

Click here for faux-Bob

The secret word is Solidarity

Clarence Clemons -- RIP

Larry (Wild Man) Fischer -- RIP

MARILYN SEZ...

“I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours”

THERE’S A RIOT COMING ON

Like I said, the biggest industrial action since the 1926 General Strike looms large. What did the barefaced Cameron expect? I highly doubt, though, he has the unctuous, rip and gouge, tooth and claw, mother alien, union busting chops of his old boss, Attila the Hen. But it does tangentially occur to me that in the quarter century since Scargill v Thatcher, subversive technology has made massive advances.

“Is the big fight on? Union responses to the Tory cuts have so far been fairly muted - the M26 outing (see SchNEWS 765), resembling a cross between a family picnic and a Labour Party rally. However on June 30th the largest public sector strikes since the 80s are planned. With the Daily Mail claiming that ‘Union Barons’ plan to ‘unleash hell’, what’s actually going to happen? Well who’s on board? On J30, up to 750,000 public sector workers, including many members of the UCU, NUT, PCS and ATL unions, including teachers, health workers, air traffic controllers, job centre wallahs, police support staff etc, etc. will go on strike. It remains to be seen whether the strike will unfurl as another generalised ‘day of action’, but marches are planned across the country and activist groups are planning to support picket lines and hold solidarity actions. Ostensibly about public sector pension cuts (unions legally have to ballot to strike over a specific issue), the strikes are the first wave of mass industrial action against the proposed austerity measures. To keep hammering home the point - these austerity measures are only necessary because of the ruling classes determination to ensure that the pain caused by the banking crisis is borne by anyone except the people who caused it. This has immediately led to Tory calls for harsher anti-strike legislation, despite the UK already having the most draconian anti-union laws in Europe. Notwithstanding the already restrictive regime, the government has now said that any trades union action that it deems ‘disruptive’ might cause a further clamp-down. With the ConDems not budging, will the union movement finally see the need to move beyond legalism and put up a real fight? Here’s hoping.” (Click here for more)

Click here for Woody

GIVE THE ANARCHIST ANOTHER CIGARETTE

I used to smoke cigarettes. I used to smoke cigarettes like a bloody chimney. I don’t any more – except the odd guilt-tripped drag – because it totally ruined my health. But, hey, is making butts unaffordable the only way to make folks see the light and lay down the lighter?

“If you're still a smoker, you're probably not smoking while reading this unless you're using a hand-held device and situated safely eight or so miles from the nearest building or public park. Anyway, The Awl has compiled a shocking list of how much a single pack of cigarettes costs in each state, including District of Columbia. Blogger Nate Hopper explains the methodology: "Prices were obtained by calling a gas station in each state's most populous city and asking the clerk for the price of a pack of Marlboro Reds with tax. Memphis, Tenn., was toughest (nine phone calls). The gas station in Milwaukee, Wis., had the only employee who ended the conversation with 'have a good one.' We'll tell you that West Virginia was the cheapest, at $4.74 a pack, and New York, of course, was the most expensive, at $11.90. (Although, last week the New York Post complained that a new tax on cigarettes had raised the price of a pack to $14.50 – or what we used to pay for a carton.) After the jump, see how much you'll pay for a pack o' butts in your state.” (Click here for more)

BUT WILL THERE BE AN EXOTIC AFTER-PARTY?

With opium and odalisques, cocaine and concubines, reefer and rent boys, Mandies and mescal, donuts and the doomed? Damn, I dunno. Do those things really happen or does Keith Richard just go home to bed these days because hell no longer follows him? Was all the terminal debauchery just a figment of the 20th century? I fear that may be the truth, in which case I can only pass along UK Steve’s reminder that tomorrow is “I Don’t Give A Fuck Day” and Tim’s final communique…


"LAST WARNING - HYDRANT, LONDON ROAD, BRIGHTON, TOMORROW NIGHT (FRIDAY 17TH JUNE) PARADISE 9 SUPPORTING MICK FARREN & THE LAST MEN STANDING (INC PINK FAIRIES & DEVIANTS). £8 & 8.30PM. BE THERE EARLY OR BE VERY VERY SAD - THIS MEANS YOU!!!!!"

Click here for extra invocation of Elvis

The secret words are Good Rockin’

Yeah, right.

GRATUITOUS LOUISE BROOKS

WE’RE COMING BACK

Tomorrow I return to the rock & roll stage, maybe not exactly like the picture above, but Sandy will be right there with me just like he was forty some years ago – and Russell, and, Andy, and new pals Tim and Jaki right along with us. And after all these years the first night nerves and the anxiety still kick into play just like they ever did.

Click here for Elvis

The secret word is Stagefright

MARILYN SEZ...

“These old boys are so perverse they might actually be blindingly good.”

THE OREO CODE

And for those of who can’t make it down to Brighton for the fun, we offer (for your consideration as Rod Serling used to say at the start of The Twilight Zone) the odd idea that the secrets of the Great Conspiracy may be engraved on a humble Oreo cookie.

“The circle topped with a two-bar cross in which the word “OREO” resides is a variant of the Nabisco logo, and is either “an early European symbol for quality” (according to Nabisco’s promotional materials) or a Cross of Lorraine, as carried by the Knights Templar into the Crusades. Continuing the Da Vinci Code-theme, the Oreo’s geometric pattern of a dot with four triangles radiating outward is either a schematic drawing of a four-leaf clover or — cue the cliffhanger music — the cross pattée, also associated with the Knights Templar, as well as with the German military and today’s Freemasons.”

DON’T RIDE THE TRICERATOPS

OUT OF CHAOS COMES THE SHOW

Folks have been emailing me wondering if I’m okay because I’ve rather been off the air for a few days. The answer is that I’m okay, if dog tired. The train takes the curve too fast. The planet is exploding. Gas vents. Wolves howl. Government agents know fear. Invertebrates double the medication and I ask myself why I keep on doing this as the band rehearses like a inspired maniacs. I have no answer but I do. It’s rock & roll. And I’ll be doing it this coming Friday at a pub called the Hydrant here in Brighton. Yes, my droogs. The big fabulous full-band warm-up show for Glastonbury is at The Hydrant in Brighton this Friday night and it’s going to be great – and then it’s on the Mists of Avalon (or the rock & roll equivalent.) Details follow as soon as I catch up and eat something.

Click here for some kinda creepy Gene Vincent

The secret words are Last Stand

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

When Maxim and Leonid Frozdick started attending party meetings naked, Lavrenti Beria had them quickly executed. 

GRATUITOUS VEGETABLE

Click here and the vegetable will respond to you.

SICK AS A MUMMIFIED PARROT

Yeah. Pressure drop on I-man. In the form of creativity, anxiety, logistics, antibiotics, and Doc Holliday bronchia. Mo’ better blog when I’ve rested a little.

Click here for Toots

The secret word is Seen

Shane Williams -- RIP

AND I COULDA BEEN ON THE RAZZLE WITH BILL AND KEEF

BUT...

I am moving towards conclusive proof of a link between Hello Kitty and the Cthulhu Mythos. Whether this is a part of Catapocalypse remains to be seen. Again more when I feel more sturdy.

BUT...

I LOVE A TALE OF MARTIANS IN THE MORNING

This character David Martines claims to have discovered a structure on the surface of Mars while scanning the surface of the planet via Google Maps. He has demonstrated his find in a YouTube video. This all comes from the London Daily Mail, however, so your credulity is on its own.

'It's very unusual in that it's quite large, it's over 700 feet long and 150 feet wide, it looks like it's a cylinder or made up of cylinders. It could be a power station or it could be a biological containment or it could be a glorified garage - hope it's not a weapon. Whoever put it up there had a purpose I'm sure. I couldn't imagine what the purpose was. I couldn't imagine why anybody would want to live on Mars. It could be a way station for weary space travellers. It could also belong to NASA, I don't know that they would admit that. I don't know if they could pull off such a project without all the people seeing all the material going up there. I sort of doubt NASA has anything to do with this. I don't know if NASA even knows about this. The 'discovery' is similar to that of the infamous 'face on Mars' Uncovered by the Viking 1 probe in 1976, a quirk of geography threw shadows over a small hill on the Cydonia region of Mars, making the inanimate rock look like a carved face. The picture was heralded as proof of an alien civilisation by some but was dismissed as a mere trick of the light by scientists at NASA.” (Click here for the video and more)

Click here for Audiosurf

The secret word is Barsoom

BUT I THINK IT’S TIME TO OPEN THE POD BAY DOOR

FREE MOVIE

Click here to watch the whole of Ed Wood’s Jailbait

GRATUITOUS POP

OF COURSE THERE’S A PROBLEM – JUST LOOK AT THE GODDAMNED WEATHER!

Our pal Chris Hedges grimly states what ought to be obvious…

“The Earth has already begun to react to our hubris. Freak weather unleashed deadly tornados in Joplin, Mo., and Tuscaloosa, Ala. It has triggered wildfires that have engulfed large tracts in California, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas. It has brought severe droughts to the Southwest, parts of China and the Amazon. It has caused massive flooding along the Mississippi as well as in Australia, New Zealand, China and Pakistan. It is killing off the fish stocks in the oceans and obliterating the polar ice caps. Steadily rising sea levels will eventually submerge coastal cities, islands and some countries. These disturbing weather patterns presage a world where it will be harder and harder to sustain human life. Massive human migrations, which have already begun, will create chaos and violence. India is building a 4,000-kilometer fence along its border with Bangladesh to, in part, hold back the refugees who will flee if Bangladesh is submerged. There are mounting food shortages and sharp price increases in basic staples such as wheat as weather patterns disrupt crop production. The failed grain harvests in Russia, China and Australia, along with the death of the winter wheat crop in Texas, have, as McKibben points out, been exacerbated by the inability of Midwestern farmers to plant corn in water-logged fields. These portents of an angry Gaia are nothing compared to what will follow if we do not swiftly act.” (Click here for the whole rant)

Click here for Big Bill

The secret word is Maelstrom

BLUE LOBSTER CULT?

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

Melchizedek Frozdick started a religion but nobody came.

SPACE OPERA (It’s been a while)

Click here for live Floyd

DON'T YOU MISS THE 20TH CENTURY?

SLEEP

The poetry show went very well from where I was lurking. Great fun, very optimistic and the guitarists played a blinder. The audience and the other poets were quite amazing and I was exceedingly impressed. I think I like it here. More about these impressions later. Now I sleep. It’s a need of the venerable.

The secret word is Smug

MARILYN SEZ...

“He’s annoyingly pleased with himself after he's walked his ego.”

TOMORROW I MAY SKIP BREAKFAST

A REMINDER

“Is this the Mick Farren poetry show?”
“I dunno. I’m a penguin.”

(For real details scroll back to yesterday.)

IT’S OFFICIAL. THE WAR ON DRUGS IS LOST

How did the old blues go? “How long, lawdy, how long?”

“A 19-member international panel has condemned the US-led "War on Drugs" campaign as a failure and has recommended major reforms of the global drug prohibition regime. The Global Commission on Drug Policy report, released on Thursday, argues that the four-decades-long campaign has failed to make significant changes in the international drug scenario and has, in fact, devastating consequences on human societies across the world. "Overwhelming evidence from Europe, Canada and Australia now demonstrates the human and social benefits both of treating drug addiction as a health rather than criminal justice problem and of reducing reliance on prohibitionist policies," remarked former Swiss president Ruth Dreifuss. "These policies need to be adopted worldwide, with requisite changes to the international drug control conventions." The term "War on Drugs" was first used by US President Richard Nixon on June 17, 1971 and was intended to define and reduce illicit drug trade globally. However, the new report points out that the result of this campaign has been nothing but a drastic increase in drug violence, especially in regions like Brazil and Mexico.” (Click here for more)

Click here for The Fugs (found for us by Jenny Spires)

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

Amazonia Frozdick habitually licked her knife.

POLICE VULTURES?

Are these bird is man’s new best friend? (But vultures don’t surf.)

“Move out of the way, police dogs! German police have a new best friend–the vulture. A team of three carrion-seeking birds have been trained to help officers find bodies. The only hitch is that the birds tend to peck at their finds. Um, yeah. That could be a problem. Named Sherlock, Miss Marple and Colombo, the three vultures all have keen eyesight and an acute sense of smell. The idea is that birds could do a better job in handling rough terrain and scanning larger areas. Which is great and all but I hope the police remember that vultures are scavengers. So don’t be surprised if a body is missing a couple eyeballs and has more flesh wounds than it should because of the vultures.”

Click here for The Cramps

The secret word is Flesh

FARREN READS AGAIN

This coming Sunday afternoon (June 5th) I’ll be doing a poetry show down here in Brighton accompanied by the blinding electric guitar of Andy Colquhoun, and slide king Tim Rundall will drop to play on a couple of pieces. Ben Graham, Lisa Jayne, Mat Colgate, James Prue and DJ Danny will also be strutting their stuff. The entire show starts at 2.00 and we’ll be hitting at about four. It’s Upstairs at the Prince Albert, 48 Trafalgar St, Brighton BN1 4ED (01273 730 499)

Click here for Billy The Monster

The secret word is Live

E COLI TERRORIZES EUROPE

I always knew eating salad would kill you. (But I’m getting a little frayed by the number of news reports that start like a very nasty science fiction movie.) (Click here for the actual story)

STALIN IN ROSWELL

I was a little slow in getting to this. Our pal Aeswiren gave me a heads up a week or more ago, but there’s been so much going on I only just followed through on it. I mean, Stalin and Dr. Mengele caused the Roswell crash? I couldn’t have made that up myself.

“Last night’s Nightline featured a confrontation between Annie Jacobsen, the author of the controversial book about Area 51 making worldwide headlines, and ABC reporter, Bill Weir. Jacobsen arranged to have Weir talk to the anonymous witness of one of the most contentious claims of her book, regarding Stalin’s involvement with the Roswell UFO crash in 1947. However, Weir says the witness told him that he did not make all of the claims laid out in the book, and described the gentleman as “in his late eighties, seemed obviously confused and conflicted.” In her book, Jacobsen claims that a retired EG&G engineer, who wished to remain anonymous, had told her that he had witnessed the parts and bodies from the alleged crashed UFO near Roswell, NM in 1947. He says they were brought to Area 51 after being stored at Wright Patterson Field in Dayton, Ohio. The reason the base is called Ares 51, Jacobsen claims, is because these materials arrived in 1951. In the book, the witness says he found that the craft was actually a version of an advanced German aircraft, called a Horton Flying Wing, and that the bodies were children that had been mutilated by Josef Mengele.” (Click here for more)

Click here for Rats In The Wall (Sent by our pal DTA)

GRATUITOUS BARDOT

MARILYN SEZ...

“Yesterday was my birthday and I had to point that out myself.”

Here at Doc40 we have long made free with image and memory of Marilyn. We love her and indentify with her in our own perverse way. She just our kind of fucked-up goddess. In 1961 she was committed to a mental hospital in New York for four days. During her confinement she wrote a six-page letter to her psychiatrist. Here is a part…

“I didn’t sleep again last night. I forgot to tell you something yesterday. When they put me into the first room on the sixth floor I was not told it was a Psychiatric floor. Dr. Kris said she was coming the next day. The nurse came in (after the doctor, a psychiatrist) had given me a physical examination including examining the breast for lumps. I took exception to this but not violently only explaining that the medical doctor who had put me there, a stupid man named Dr. Lipkin had already done a complete physical less than thirty days before. But when the nurse came in I noticed there was no way of buzzing or reaching for a light to call the nurse. I asked why this was and some other things and she said this is a psychiatric floor. After she went out I got dressed and then was when the girl in the hall told me about the phone. I was waiting at the elevator door which looks like all other doors with a door-knob except it doesn’t have any numbers (you see they left them out). After the girl spoke with me and told me about what she had done to herself I went back into my room knowing they had lied to me about the telephone and I sat on the bed trying to figure if I was given this situation in an acting improvisation what would I do. So I figured, it’s a squeaky wheel that gets the grease. I admit it was a loud squeak but I got the idea from a movie I made once called “Don’t Bother to Knock”. I picked up a light-weight chair and slammed it, and it was hard to do because I had never broken anything in my life — against the glass intentionally. It took a lot of banging to get even a small piece of glass – so I went over with the glass concealed in my hand and sat quietly on the bed waiting for them to come in. They did, and I said to them “If you are going to treat me like a nut I’ll act like a nut”. I admit the next thing is corny but I really did it in the movie except it was with a razor blade. I indicated if they didn’t let me out I would harm myself — the furthest thing from my mind at that moment since you know Dr. Greenson I’m an actress and would never intentionally mark or mar myself. I’m just that vain.” (Click here for the rest)

Click here for birthday greetings

The secret scent is Chanel No. 5

AYN RAND AND LEMMY?

Lifted from our pal Richard Metzger at Dangerous Minds

DEATHBLING #1

After killing eleven of La Familia (who had shot down of a police helicopter) and arresting 36 others including three known top leaders were captured, Mexican police  confiscated these jewel-encrusted weapons from the drug cartel.

DEATHBLING #2

Click here for Johnny Too Bad

GRATUITOUS DAHMER

Our pals at World of Wonder assure me this is the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer having fun at the beach.

IT MAKES ME ALL WARM AND FUZZY

I always feel good when bikers and truck drivers drive off loathsome religious bigots. It doesn’t happen all that often so, when it does, I wax all sentimental. And, yeah, I know the action flies in the face of universal free speech, but these Westboro Baptists are such nasty vicious fundamental assholes. (The picture is generic bikers but there is video of the actual event.)

“A protest by the infamous Westboro Baptist Church was not carried out in Joplin, Missouri on Saturday as planned after a large contingent of bikers showed up and flushed them out of a zone marked off for their demonstration. The hate group, known for protesting soldiers returning from war, had planned their event to coincide with President Obama’s appearance at Missouri Southern State University, to memorialize the 143 confirmed to have been killed during recent storms. As you can see from the video below, it did not turn out well for the protesters, as one — surrounded by police at the start of the footage — is forced to flee as hundreds of noisy bikers swept past the police line and occupied the protest area. According to one first-hand account, it went something like this: “When the police saw what was about to happen they grabbed him and tried to push the bikers back!! Then they told the guy “run you stupid mother fucker” And I am quoting!! We heard that more of them were blocked at a local truck stop by a few awesome truckers!! They pinned them in until it was over, not sure about this one just what we were hearing!! You may think of bikers as mean or lawless but when it comes to things like this they really step up!!!” (Click here for more and the video)

Click here for Link Wray

The secret word is Rumble