“The only way to find true happiness
is to risk being completely cut open.”
-chuck palahniuk
so i've had this smoking popes craving. no, not a craving to set afire that cat in vatican city. the band. smoking popes. just happen to flip to hbo the other day and the credits to clueless were rolling. the popes' tune "need you around" was playing. brought back nice memories. they always reminded me (and most folks) of the smiths... with balls. anyway, as i cant seem to locate my copy of the "born to quit" lp, i went about my usual music trolling on the net. friggin nowhere to be found. found pretty much everything but that record. how soon the world forgets a truly great / groundbreaking band. a damn classic record it is. like really. also brings back a bad bad bad memory. fall 1996. jawbreaker (yes as a matter of fact they were [are] the greatest rock and roll band, like ever. oh my god) are coming to houston. with the smoking popes opening the show no less! can you say "counting the days". so, about a week before what will surely be the best night of my entire miserable life, steve (aka ben fondled) calls me. he was the singer in bickley, the band i drank beer and played drums for. "dude, i got us a show in arkansas... at this really popular skate park!"
I'll give ya 3 guesses what night our "big arkansas gig" was.
freezing cold, 8 (yes, eight) snotty punk kids, bad pa, 18 hr round trip.
warm bodies, cold beer, my single favorite band ever, and the smoking popes.
you do the math.
i love steve. i will never forgive steve.
jawbreaker broke up 3 months later. the popes, 9 months later.
did i mention i love steve. sometimes i have to remind myself.
a word from popes vocalist josh caterer about the tour:
Upon returning home they joined Jawbreaker for a tour. It was at this time that Josh was inspired by the amount of admiration the fans had for Blake Schwarzenbach. Josh would put the feelings of the fans into song on the next album's "You Spoke To Me."
"I was thinking of Jawbreaker," Caterer said. "We toured with them and I would see people come up to (the lead singer) ... and start to say weird things about how much his music had meant to them. I was really impressed by that, so I tried to write the song from the point of view of one of those people."
steve. steve. steve.
dateline texas:
mother burns toddler in scolding hot bath water, she first claimed he stumbled into a campfire.
mother hangs her 4 children (18 months to 6 years) and then hangs herself.
mother leaves kids home alone, they die that night in fire.
(insert silver lining here)
the field for "mother of the year" is thinning. rapidly.
remember the alamo. and shit.
mandatory sterilization is not the right word.
but its the first word that comes to mind.
ya'll come back now, ya hear!
brickwallboy.
raymond pettibon, untitled (2002)
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