DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS
My Fellow Americans, Life is actually just a microscopic, deluded moment in time, so let's cut to the freakin' chase. One look at our impending election debacle can solidify my case. It has been my contention since birth, that the answer to every difficulty we encounter on this sacred yet demented Stone, can be revealed with ultimate clarity through the ultra neurotic engagements of Music, Art, Literature, Film, Poetry and a good Pastrami sandwich. Why would any sane human spend so must time on a film set (Do you know how long you gotta wait until your 8 second deliverance of an edited beyond repair line gets a chance to become a professional embarrassment etched in time forever? ) or expend so much energy in a recording studio, piecing together another ode to a man or woman who could not care less how much love existed within your digestive tract? It's all about hymns and prayers and a quest for mercy and forgiveness and silence and faith. We were blessed with Charles Bukowski, Gene Chandler, Lenny Bruce, Mitch Ryder and a legion of creative explorers whose influences provided the air we breathe. So Let's Dance! This site shall explore the reaper, find a way to disarm the stench of injustice, discover some true loves and talk it all over before it's all over. So what's the worst that our desires could produce? Failure? So sue me. I'm going to require your assistance in making as much trouble for the grown-ups as possible. Let the record show that my childish heart yearns to disrupt the madness. Join me Ladies and Germs!
With Gratitude For Gena Rowlands, Nancy Sinatra, Jerry Quarry, Leo Gorcey, Arthur Alexander and Joey Heatherton, Your Splendid Bohemian, Rich Buckland.
DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS
BILL MESNIK'S SUNNY SIDE OF MY STREET PRESENTS: TOTALLY WIRED by THE FALL (1982, ROUGH TRADE) EPISODE #84
It’s jangly and jarring, but irresistibly hypnotic. Mark E Smith chants this incantation as if he is literally crawling out of his skin. The performance is teeth grinding punk rock in its distilled essence. a portrait of a poet in service to anarchy. And, funny. Deeply biting and ironical, this was DJ champion, John Peel’s favorite group. The lyrics here seem improvised, but he’s a gonzo beat poet extraordinaire - he’s written it all down, and delivers it with his signature repetition in a discordant bray.
“You don't have to be weird to be wired
You don't have to be an American to be strange
You don't have to be strange to be strange
You don't have to be weird to be weird”
After seeing the Sex Pistols in ’76 Mr Smith had a vision that carried him for 42 years through a ridiculous number of personnel changes. It doesn’t matter who is playing as long as Mark is at the mic. He said once, “if it’s me and your granny, it’s The Fall”.
Mark was a difficult, complex man who died in 2018 at the age of 60, leaving behind 32 studio albums and countless live versions. One could pick out practically any Fall tune, and experience that singular voice - “attitude personified,” one journalist dubbed it. I chose this cut because it makes me smile every time I hear it. I hate being in that condition myself, but it’s fun to vicariously share Mark’s flirtation with psychosis.
