THE BRAZENBLOG MUSEUM, PART 2: LO-FI ARTIFACTS

LO-FI NIGHT, FEBRUARY 10, 1988

(I still wanna know where the hell

the full video of that night is!)

In my previous installment I went back in time to pre-colonial Williamsburg, in honor of the new book partially informed by this blog and my recent nod from the Times. So it's only natural and inevitable that Part 2 should honor Adam Harper's forthcoming book on Lo-Fi, and provide more artifacts from my own personal performing history in the process. Let's dive right in...

JET SCREAMER & RAY ZINNBRANN MAY '88 -- Jet's flyer design for two shows Jennifer Blowdryer had booked for us after stumbling across us both by chance at our first shared bill at Cafe Bustelo the previous month. We almost didn't play the second one because the first one was a total disaster which left us cursing Jennifer afterward, though we should have been cursing some very angry neighbors instead for not taking kindly to our sounds. She'd end up making amends in a very major way by adding another act to the No Rio show at the last minute. This was our formal introduction to the Gamma Rays, and we fell so hard for them that we ended up crashing a party they were playing at later that night just to see them a second time. 

At this party I also got to meet Kathleen Lynch, the go-go dancer who I'd seen perform with the Butthole Surfers twice the year before. Truly a night to remember on all levels. The No Rio gig was just one of the coolest gigs I was ever part of, and it was all worth the flat tire I got driving into NYC that night (which Jet's friends ultimately fixed for me). Jet and I would go on to form Living Guitars five months later... which brings us to...

NIGHT OF THE LIVING GUITARS, NOVEMBER 14, 1988: Jet and I had just become Living Guitars only two weeks previous to this show, which was to be our fourth (and final) shared billing as solo acts. We had only four songs under our belt but decided to just play what we had so far at this show, agreeing to cut our respective solo sets in half to make time for our debut as a duo. This show was at the strangest venue I've ever played at in my life. Cave Canem (misspelled on the flyer) was a former gay bath house with a very ancient Greek/Roman look to it! 

We ended up (sort of) teasing our collaboration during my solo set when Jet hopped up to add backing vocals to "Joey Dee Rock & Roll Retirement Home," later to become a Living Guitars number. Jet did a nice cover of "Boys Don't Cry" by the Cure in his set, then I joined him and we left the crowd breathless. Jennifer Blowdryer, who I now totally confess I had a huge crush on back then, did a splendid job go-go dancing for us at my humble request on "Cast Your Vote." 

One additional performer this night is not mentioned on my flyer as no one told me he was playing, namely Skinny Vinny, who I'd seen open for Fly Ashtray a few months before (which I still recall as one of the best live performances I ever saw) and was very happy to see again as he was one of the most unique and underrated performers of the era. (Thanks for the shout-out on Part 1, Vinny!) I taped the entire show and it's a treasure for sure. The Gamma Rays were really starting to solidify as a band by this point and I still consider them one of my all time favorites. 

As for my flyer design, I took the guitar diagram from one of the "Play Guitar With The Ventures" volumes, as clearly evidenced by the fact that the electric guitar pictured is one of their signature Mosrite models. I'd seen and met the Ventures six months prior to this gig and their influence on Living Guitars is self-explanatory.

Here is part of a review of "The Phoaming Edison Tapes," the compilation album which emerged from our precious original Lo-Fi scene, from the April 27, 1990 issue of New York Press,. A very snobby review to say the least, though at least the reviewer noted my cool guitar squiggles...

I mentioned the great Linda Hagood and Smack Dab in Part 1 of this post. Here's one of the coolest and funniest old flyers I have, drawn by the great "Wooden" Thomas Kiernan a/k/a TJK Heywood of the Modern Day Carpetbaggers, whom Bill Berger once deemed his all-time favorite lo-fi group, and who had the absolute craziest track on "The Phoaming Edison Tapes." Dig the cool twist on the address. Mr. Heywood, BTW, shares with me a certain proclivity for new music women... (If you know, you know.)

My very first officially published work... from the summer 1986 edition of WFMU's old program guide/magazine LCD, a salute to the man who gave me my original signature tune "Let Your Mind Be Your Captain," the great early '70s teen idol Bobby Sherman. I have several old issues of LCD, and apart from the time trip, they really show just how times have changed at WFMU in 40 years' time, as well as occasionally spout some VERY politically incorrect content you'd be instantly canceled for today...

I don't know how (or why) the hell I still have this, but I do: the complete script for "Pee-Pee's Flophouse," a 1987 R-rated shot-on-VHS spoof of "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" starring Chris Tsakis in the lead role, in which I appeared as myself and lip-synced to a pre-recorded version of "Let Your Mind Be Your Captain," and Bill Berger played a drug dealer. I really hope it never appears on Youtube (or anywhere else), as I recall it being truly the worst film ever shot in all of home-video history. I'll say no more.

And finally... I have original handwritten and typewritten lyrics to several classic Brazen songs, of course, but here's the one example that's most noteworthy: the words to "Joey Dee Rock & Roll Retirement Home," written way back when I was 23 years old. Oh, how this song is coming back to bite my ass now... and by the way, G.P.(O.O.T.) stands for Great Productions (Of Our Time).

And that's a wrap on my little lo-fi museum. Next time I'll be going way back to my childhood for some truly interesting stuff. Stay tuned cuz the Brazenblog's back to STAY this time for sure!

THE BRAZENBLOG MUSEUM, PART 1: WILLIAMSBURG

So of course, this wave of NYC nostalgia presently goin' 'round, coupled with the wave of requests I've received recently for historic materials, has made it inevitable that I go through some old boxes and drawers to find artifacts of my own bohemian existence folks might be interested in. I have found quite a bit of stuff, so much good shit in fact that I'm going to have to break it up into multiple parts on this blog. Suffice it to say my old trusty scanner has seen quite a workout, and that I've found some extreme rarities to preserve, starting with a whole load of old flyers announcing gigs I've seen and played in NYC in the late '80s and '90s, particularly in Williamsburg. So here, especially in light of the Brazenblog being cited by the NY Times, are some vintage Billburg flyers, with stories about each: 

LIZARD'S TAIL SCHEDULE, JULY 1989 -- Starting things off with a bang, here is a full month's schedule of events at the coolest place any of us ever played at, EVER. I draw your attention to the last event listed on this flyer. An incredible night of hypnotic wonder headlined by the Gamma Rays, who as great as they were as always, found themselves quite the tough act to follow this time thanks to two incredible performances preceding theirs: Dina Emerson, who did some incredible vocal loop pieces with her absolutely amazing voice... and SMACK DAB, playing their second gig ever (according to notes in an old journal of mine). This was my very first time seeing the amazing Linda Hagood (oh, what a babe) do her thing backed by Bill Berger, who had first heard Linda on a tape she submitted to his legendary Lo-Fi program, on drums. It would be far from my last as Linda quickly became a significant force in the little scene we had going there at the time. Truly a night to remember forever!

BILLY SYNDROME, LIZARD'S TAIL, 1988/89 -- And here are flyers for two Syndrome shows of high importance for me: the first time I caught him at the Tail, then that time seven months later when Living Guitars opened for him. These kids today don't know the half of it...

LIVING GUITARS & JURASSICS, LIZARD'S TAIL, JANUARY 5, 1990 -- The last of our three gigs at the Tail, along with our "brother band," whom Jet was an original member of before leaving them to partner with me. This was also to be our next-to-last gig as Living Guitars. Jurassics actually lasted another year when I joined them after we broke up, though the only gig we played during my time was at a private bachelor party with My Sick Friends (remember that one, Jet? Our "battle of the bands," if you will, and I think yours won!). The flyer was designed by Lonesome Steve a/k/a Big Drag, and though it's one of the more unconventional gig flyers in my collection, our love of White Castle is nonetheless very real. 

THUNDERING URBAN UNDIES RAID, APRIL 28, 1995 -- Handwritten flyer by Malcolm Tent, who had formed Thai Raid just a few months earlier with myself and two of the Nice Undies. The name was Malcolm's clever condensation of the original lineup of Thundering Lizards, Urban Outdoorsmen, Nice Undies, and Thai Raid (whom Malcolm and I formed after both leaving the Lizards). This one's a LONG story, folks. The Right Bank had closed, sort of, at the end of 1994, but some folks wouldn't let it die. This led to a few more on-and-off re-openings over the next few months and a few more shows under the Tepkar banner (I HATED that name), of which this was the very last one to be held in its big back room. This would also turn out to be the last Nice Undies show. Just before the show, Conrad, frontman for the Urban Outdoorsmen, quit the band and moved back to his home state, Texas. There were more crazy and twisted goings-on at this thing than I should detail here... but let's say this gig almost didn't happen. Shortly afterwards, the Right Bank closed again, sealed off the back room, and then reopened, with gigs taking place in the back of the bar instead up till 2003 when it closed for good.

 

THAI RAID, RIGHT BANK, JUNE 20, 1997 -- And here is the first flyer I ever designed on a computer, for a show at our official home base. We'd just released our first EP on orange vinyl which we'd recorded right around the corner in a studio in a dark alley...

VARIOUS THUNDERING LIZARDS FLYERS 1992-1995 -- Feast your everlovin' eyes on this gallery, folks. This is a virtual treasure trove of original flyers drawn by Karl Lorenzen a/k/a K.L. He started off as a floating member of the Lizards, but quickly found his place within the group as both its resident poet and artist extraordinaire, and later a full-fledged performing member himself. K.L., apart from being one of the coolest and most humble humans you'd ever want to meet, designed most of the Lizards' flyers as well as the sleeve for our first single, and I only wish I knew where the hell he is now because I lost touch with him as soon as I moved to Florida... if anyone out there has any info, let me know ASAP! (Yeah, I know only the first one is for a show in Williamsburg, but who's counting?)

I also found three issues of The Curse, a local xeroxed art and literature zine published and distributed in Williamsburg in the mid-1990s which in my view was WAY cooler than Waterfront Week. These include guest articles from the likes of Jim Marshall (a/k/a ex-WFMU DJ The Hound) and Legs McNeil, and enough vintage time-period content to make old Billburg residents cry in their beer.

One last artifact before I go... particularly, the flyer for Evil Jim Friendly's 40th birthday party at the Right Bank. If you knew Billy, you certainly knew Jimmy. JFK Jr. Royal Airforce was the last band he and Billy had before Billy had his stroke. He lives in Florida now, just like me. How it all comes down to fate in the end... 

That's it for Part 1, folks, stay tuned for more from the Brazenblog Museum in the very near future! 

A WORD FROM YOUR FRIENDLY BRAZENBLOGGER

Ray Brazen with Michael Winslow

of "Police Academy" fame!

Photo by Josh Rogers

I realize it's been quite some time since I last posted. Rather than offer lame excuses for my absence here, I'll just say I think it's time to rectify that situation and get back into the game. But before I get back to business as usual, I wish to address this blog's current status as an increasingly popular source of info amongst certain academics. 

Yes, friends, the scholars of underground rock have come a-knockin' at my door lately, looking for whatever info they can find for their research, and I of course have plenty to offer them. Mind you, this isn't the first time they've been accessing my work for clues. Back in the raybrazen.com days, quotes from my Godz biography wound up referenced and footnoted in an extensive online essay called "Clamor Of The Godz: Radical Incompetence In '60s Rock," which is still available online and is a well written and researched work indeed, going as far as to reveal facts about the Godz even I didn't know before. 

This time, however, they're hitting me up for info and other materials for inclusion in actual, published books of rock history. In fact, I didn't even know the Brazenblog had already been quoted and referenced in one such book until after it was published. It's a nifty little book called "The Williamsburg Avant-Garde: Experimental Music and Sound on the Brooklyn Waterfront," authored by a Mr. Cisco Bradley, and it's an extensive history of Williamsburg's pre-gentrification glory period. And soon there will be a new book informed in part by this blog, a history of lo-fi music and culture being written by an educator who teaches an actual college class on lo-fi in England of all places! I almost fell out of my chair when Adam Harper contacted me to specifically request a high-quality scan of the original flyer for Lo-Fi Night, that 1988 concert in NYC which marked my performing debut and changed the lives of myself and so many others, for inclusion in this tome! I've also provided other materials for Mr. Harper's research, and truly cannot wait for this one to hit the streets. 

Even as one who has witnessed and chronicled rock history myself, I honestly admit it feels a bit strange to have my personal adventures and online works suddenly be referenced in actual published books. I mean, it's not like me and my old lo-fi crew were giving any thought to the possibility that we were making history, either back in '88 or indeed any other time before this current wave of scholarly interest. "Our scene will be in a history book someday!" said no one ever. 

But we are now living in a day and age where any and all memories of any underground scenes of ages past are ripe for those interested to pounce upon, and they're right there on the internet for the world to see. And there's certainly no point in denying these folks their interest. I know exactly what they're thinking because I've been there myself, many times over. The old saying "what goes around comes around" certainly applies here. After all, I created my Dug Dug's and Godz websites for the purpose of doing exactly what these researchers are doing now -- learning as much as possible about those bands and documenting this knowledge for others, and boy did I succeed at that. 

All I can say to all of this is that I'm proud of all my online work, proud of this Brazenblog, and thankful and grateful that others consider my work over the years to be an inspiration for theirs. And I wish Messrs. Bradley and Harper all the best of luck in what they do, for the truth of the matter is that it takes more than one person to tell the whole story, and the more people adding to the big picture, the better. Write on, gentlemen.

And so, with my solemn vow to get back to blogging more than ever before in '24, this is the first of two brand new posts for the Brazenblog. There are still many tales to be told, unfinished stories to get back to, and even a few crazy little whims I've been entertaining recently in the realm of further underground rock research on my part. And by the way, this message just so happens to be the 49th entry to this blog, which means get the party favors ready now, folks! See you in a bit...

"SMOG" AT 50: AN UNSUNG CLASSIC

For better or worse, golden anniversaries are all the rage in rock these days, and there are certainly enough such milestones around to make anyone feel old, myself most included. In 2022 alone, we've seen such albums as "Ziggy Stardust," "Exile On Main Street," "The Slider," and "Harvest" turn 50, just to name a few. All great albums, to be sure, and all worthy of their respective celebrations. But 1972 also saw the making of another album which should rightfully be heralded in the same league as the aforementioned discs, and one I believe would be just as highly celebrated globally today -- had it been made by an American or British band and been released outside of Mexico. Behold, the absolute greatest 50-year-old rock album the world has never known: "Smog" by Los Dug Dug's. 

Of course, my tireless work on behalf of this band is well documented both here and on my website. But it should be pointed out that when I first began championing Los Dug Dug's online, my view of them as "Mexican rock gods the world ought to know about" was shaped by just three albums: their self-titled debut, "El Loco," and the "15 Exitos" compilation, which for its generous representation of the band's other albums only included the title track of "Smog." Thus, I've only been able to enjoy "Smog" in full for half of its existence. Oh, but as big a fan as I was up to the point where I finally heard it, "Smog" would prove not only to be the album which totally changed the whole Dug Dug's fanboy game for me, but in light of what happened between me and the band soon after my first hearing, it would soon take its place in my world as nothing less than a prophecy of what was about to come. 

"Smog" first came my way on a grey Maxell cassette as part of a tape trade I'd made with a fellow psych fan I'd struck up a brief online acquaintance with. He had all three albums I'd yet to hear in full by the band ("Cambia Cambia" and "Abre Tu Mente" being the other two) and had taped them all for me, but it was "Smog" I rushed to hear first. The kind gentleman who made me the tapes gave me no advance warning that I was in for the ride of my life. No "this is one of the ballsiest records you will ever hear," no "and by the way the heaviest track on it is 12 minutes long," just "here you go, enjoy." The muddy sound quality confirmed it was a copy of a tape he'd received in a trade with someone else, who for all I know might not even have owned the original source vinyl copy himself. But I had to hear what I'd been missing up till then any way I could. 

But even if the guy who had mailed it to me had been more specific about its contents, there would have been absolutely no words in the end which could prepare me, or anyone else, for that crucial, life-altering first listen to "Hagamoslo Ahora (2a Parte)," the multi-part suite which takes up most of side one of "Smog." It had me right at the double-bass kick drum beat which starts it off and runs through damn near the entire song, such a sucker am I for a double-bass drum sound. Through a succession of simple-yet-hammering riffs and scorching drum and piercing guitar mini-solos, it took me on a 12-minute rollercoaster ride of complete and total hard rock power. 

Words here are practically useless in describing this monster of a track -- you have to hear it to believe it, especially Daniel Tello's performance on drums which sounds like nothing less than the Iron Man Decathlon of drumming as he keeps pace with the most intense performance Armando Nava ever committed to tape. (Mr. Tello has recently rejoined Los Dug Dug's, and when they performed "Hagamoslo Ahora (2a Parte)" in honor of the 50th anniversary of Avandaro last year, he recreated his drum marathon perfectly and looked like he was hardly breaking a sweat the whole time!) It was so far above and beyond any Dug Dug's track I'd heard until then that I was literally in shock over it for a full week afterward. 

To say "Smog" made me more determined than ever to track down Armando is an understatement, and just days after that first hearing, the series of events which led me to him began in earnest. When we finally established contact less than two months later I was genuinely convinced that listen had brought with it magic powers. This theory was proven further when he not only visited me in April of the following year, but made me almost run off the road when he tried to present me with a vinyl copy of "Smog" in my car. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction, folks.

Of course, "Hagamoslo Ahora (2a Parte)" is just one part of "Smog." As a whole, it's an album containing the full range of '70s hard rock passion and emotion, from the Jethro Tull-esque title cut and "No Somos Malos" to the straight-up rocker "Cual Es Tu Nombre," and the gorgeously reflective, orchestral 7-minute closer "Voy Hacia El Cielo." And then there's my other favorite track "Yo No Se," a quirky and almost punky song which sounds practically like Devo to my ears! And then there's that album cover depicting the band as cavemen, complete with Armando's bleached grey locks, a dead giveaway that this album doesn't quite sound like the Carpenters. ("I don't have to dye them that way now!" laughed Armando to me recently.) This album is every bit as great as the albums I named earlier and so many more, and what's more, it rocks harder than all of 'em combined. 

The fury of "Smog" can easily be traced to its historic background, as Los Dug Dug's were a band in turmoil throughout the album's entire production. Their original lineup had imploded after playing the Avandaro Festival, its scandalous aftermath having led to a government crackdown on rock, and Armando wanted to change their image from flower-power to full-on heavy rock and reverse the then-prevalent trend in Mexico of local bands singing in English in the process. RCA wanted another album in English, still promising to promote them in the States despite having done no such thing with the English-language album they'd already cut. Steadfastly refusing to buy the bridge they were selling him, Armando defied RCA and hid away for two weeks to rewrite the album in Spanish, recording the resulting songs with the new lineup of the band which lasted pretty much about the time it took to complete the album before once again breaking up. 

In fact, the band's new super-heavy hard rock image itself didn't withstand the release of "Smog," as Los Dug Dug's went on to record "Cambia, Cambia" with yet another new lineup, with Armando's brother Enrique on drums, as the follow-up in 1975, with a distinctly mellower, poppier sound and the band clean-shaven on the cover. I can only imagine how shocking "Cambia" was to fans who had fallen for them via "Smog" when it was first released in Mexico, though it's still a good album on its own terms. But while the "Smog" lineup may not have been long for this world, they left a mark that would eventually travel the world, better late than never, thanks in no small part to this truly obsessed and dedicated "Smog" fan's efforts.

"Smog" has easily taken its place in my book as perhaps the single greatest and most personally important and spiritually significant album I've ever known. Even after hundreds upon hundreds of listens I'll never get sick of it. I always have to watch my speed when I play it in my car. I could probably listen to it on repeat for the rest of my life and be just fine (not that I'm about to, of course). Rating-wise it is an easy and effortless 10/10. And 25 years after I first heard it, 50 years after it was first released in Mexico, it's still one of the freshest-sounding albums you'll ever experience. They've just issued it on clear vinyl in honor of its golden occasion. You should get it. It just might change your life too.