The Five Books You Can Read Again and Again

It's been awhile since we've talked about books around here.  At least it seems that way.  We're going to put the Southern California posts on hold for a week or so and mix things up a bit.  

Over the holiday, I got to spend some quality one on one time with my daughter.  We had four days together with no one else around and during that time, we did our best to get out of the house and have some adventures. One of the things my daughter shares with me is a genuine love of music.  Our favorite bands rarely overlap anymore, but we both tolerate and even occasionally like the other's taste.  We're also prone to asking each other, "Have you heard this song?" or "Do you know about this band?"    

As we were driving around L.A. a couple of weeks ago, I asked my daughter the music lover's million dollar question.  

What is your Desert Island list? 

She surprised me by saying that she'd given that a lot of thought and it wouldn't just be her favorite songs.  It would have to be songs that she couldn't easily replicate in her head the way she hears them.  In other words, she may know all of her favorite songs by heart, but she'd only take the ones with her where that certain guitar tone or specific vocal tremor is something she couldn't sing back to herself.

It made me rethink my own Desert Island song list but that's for a different post.  It also got me thinking about my list of Desert Island books.  What are the five books that I would take with me if I knew that I could never read any other book ever again? 

It's a tricky question.  You can ask me to summarize the stories of the vast majority of the books I've read and I can tell you with no problem.  However, I'd never be able to replicate the way they were written or how they were told.  So after some thought, here is my Desert Island List of the five books I would squirrel away with me if I were going to be dropped off at a Desert Island.  

Also, for you book nerds out there, I would insist that all of these be hardbound and Smythe sewn on quality paper so they wouldn't disintegrate from overuse.

1. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson

This book quite literally changed my life. Thompson's writing style just jumps off the page. It's a book that flows with an almost evangelical feel when read aloud (which I did for my wife when we were first married - she actually asked me to). I tend to reread it annually and have read it over thirty times in my life.  It changed the way I look at the world for better or worse. I'd take it though because there are certain turns of phrase in those pages that consistently put a smile on my face. 

2. The Stand - Stephen King

This is one I've read probably 8 - 10 times in my life. What sucks me in is King's incredibly vivid characters. Every time I get to the finish, I feel sad because it feels like saying goodbye to family.  Also, every time I reread it, I come across something else I forgot from the last time I read it.  That's easy to do when a book is over 1,100 pages I suppose, but I've read my share of long books and this one is something else entirely.  One note:  I would insist on the unabridged version shown. 

3. Dandelion Wine - Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury was my first "favorite author".  I remember reading short stories of his in our English classes in grade school and while my favorite book of his will probably always be Something Wicked This Way Comes, the one I'd bring with me to that island is Dandelion Wine.  The pictures that he paints of small town life in this book are pure, unadulterated art. The first time I read it, I was filled with a nostalgia for a time I didn't even live through. It moved me to tears at one point and there are places in those pages where I still choke up reading it again today. 

4. Hardboiled Wonderland and The End of the World - Haruki Murakami

Murakami is a genius.  If you haven't read anything by him, I'd say you should start with something different.  Probably his most famous book to American audiences is Kafka on the Shore.  It's a fantastic read, but Hardboiled Wonderland and The End of the World packed way more of an emotional punch for me.  I don't want to say anything that might spoil it for those who have never read it. It's probably the most original book I've ever read in the way its structure plays out from beginning to end. The final pages are devastating. 

5. Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco

This is a tough one.  I knew I'd have at least one of Eco's books on this list but which one?  I adore Baudolino.  I have a huge admiration for The Island of The Day Before and The Name of the Rose, but Foucault's Pendulum is something that speaks to the inner occult mystery geek in me.  On its face, it's about three friends who begin creating a fictional conspiracy theory for fun as they pass the time in their day jobs.  Underneath it's about fanaticism and the dangers of playing with beliefs.  It was one of my major inspirations in trying to come up with something unique when creating the monster in my book The Wash.

So there you have it.  These are my five Desert Island Books.  Let me know what yours are in the comments.  I'd love to check some of them out.  That's right, I'm using this post just to find new books to read.

One quick note:  if you haven't already then please sign up for my mailing list.  It will be the fastest way to find out about promotions for my upcoming books and stories.  Plus, you get a previously unpublished short story just for signing up.  I'm only going to bug you if I have something exciting to offer or share.  

I promise.

And finally, if you're looking for something for yourself and haven't picked up The Wash yet, you can do so on Amazon.  If you've already read it, I'd love to know what you thought of it, good or bad.  Feel free to drop me a line at w.cary.christopher@gmail.com.

Five Things You May Not Know About The Creature From The Black Lagoon - A.K.A. The Best Monster Movie Ever

When I think back on the three years I wrote for DVDinmypants.com, one assignment stands far above all the rest. I was privileged to be paired with a writer named Shawn McLoughlin and we were asked to review about twenty Universal Monster films that had just come out in box sets.  Almost every film featuring the classic characters The Wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, The Mummy, The Invisible Man and The Creature From The Black Lagoon was included.  It was a daunting task but there may be no series of films I love more than those original black and white Universal monster movies.  Having to pore through those titles to review them rekindled my love for those monsters and renewed my obsession with my hands down favorite, The Gill Man.

Personally, I believe The Creature From The Black Lagoon is the perfect monster movie.  Even though it's over 60 years old, it can still provoke scares out of people who have never seen it before. Scenes have been quoted (sometimes verbally and sometimes cinematically) in blockbuster films that came years later.  

The most famous is the 'underwater ballet' scene between the Gill Man and Julie Adams that directly influenced Spielberg's opening attack sequence in JAWS.  It's got a great script, fantastic acting and effects that were ahead of its time.

So in order to honor my favorite monster movie, here's a list of five little known facts you can pull out to impress people.  However I should warn you that you will come off looking like a super nerd if you actually attempt to break these out at parties. 

1. The film is based off a real myth.

It's true.  The movie was inspired by a tale from South America about a village that was tormented by a half-man/half-fish monster.  The creature demanded a woman as tribute every so often.  No one really knows what he did with them, but apparently they didn't last long.  

You know, the saying goes that there is some truth to every myth. Perhaps an expedition is in order?


2. Orson Welles was involved in the film's genesis.

How he was involved with the Gill-Man is almost a six degrees of separation game, only there's just three degrees.  Welles was at a Hollywood party and he happened to be talking to Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa.  Figueroa recounted the fish-man story I mentioned above and the conversation was overheard by William Alland.  Alland eventually thought back to that conversation and used the myth as the basis for the original script.  Many, many drafts later it made it to the big screen with no further help from Welles.  Still, if he hadn't had that party I wouldn't have my favorite movie of all time, so I give credit where credit is due.


3.  The head of the creature was designed after a seventeenth century woodcut of a creature called The Sea Bishop.

  

 

That picture says it all, right?  Well, not quite.  As the story goes the creature was first discovered in the Baltic Sea in 1433.  It was presented to the King of Poland who was so fascinated by it that he decided to keep it instead of releasing it back into the water.  It was described as having a fin that looked like a clergyman's cloak and a head that was humanoid and shaped like a bishop's mitre. A group of actual bishops were granted an audience with the strange creature who apparently made gestures to them that it wanted to go back to the sea.  The bishops convinced the king to let it go and when it was put back in the water, it made the sign of the cross and then swam down into the depths.

Of course, then it made its way to the Amazon River, terrorized Julie Adams and company and spawned two sequels.  Somewhere along the way, it must have lost its faith but who could blame him?  It was Julie Adams, for crying out loud!



4.  There was no air tank in the Gill Man costume.

For the original film, Ricou Browning (who played the Gill Man in all of the underwater scenes) had to hold his breath, sometimes for up to four minutes.  The director wanted the creature to look real and since the monster had gills, he thought that having bubbles escape the costume would ruin the effect.  Lucky for him, Browning was a professional swimmer and diver.  In fact, Browning had never aspired to be an actor.  He was a behind the scenes guy and went on to do some fantastic directing work including all of the underwater battle scenes in the James Bond classic Thunderball.

5.  There really is a Creature From The Black Lagoon!

The picture above isn't it though supposedly it looks similar.  Actually, it's an amphibious fossil that was discovered by Jennifer Clack at the East Kirkton Quarry near Edinburgh.  Clack named it eucritta melanolimnetes which literally translates into "creature from the black lagoon".  It existed during the Visean epoch of the Carboniferous period of Scotland. Clack noted that the fossil was discovered in what was once a 'fetid swamp', so the name fit perfectly.

And there you have it.  Five fun facts about The Creature From The Black Lagoon that will get you absolutely nowhere in life.  However it did distract you from doing work, so at least that's something, right?

Thanks for reading!

Oh, and hey!  If you're a horror fan and are looking for a good read, why not check out my book The Wash available exclusively on Amazon!

 

Five Bands Vol. 3 - Halloween Music!!

It's been a long time since I did a music post and there's no better time to put together a "Five Bands" list than October.  There are a ton of great bands out there who choose to adopt horror imagery for their album covers, videos or general attire, but there are far less who actually make genuinely creepy music.  So don't get upset if you don't see your favorites like Oingo Boingo, Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper or The Cramps on here.  We're going to go a little off the beaten path to see what we can find.

1.  Midnight Syndicate 

I found out about these guys in the best possible place you could: Count Orlok's Nightmare Gallery in Salem, MA!  As we wandered among the wax figures from some of our favorite horror films, my wife and I kept commenting on how cool the music was.  Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer and asked one of the attendants.  This is the music you want playing on the front porch as the kids come up for candy.  It's creepy music written specifically to scare.  These guys have a number of albums out and almost every track is perfect to be played on Halloween night.  Definitely check them out!


2.  Dark Sanctuary

With a name like this, you probably expect a super heavy, Black Metal band.  You'd be so, so wrong.  This French band creates classically inspired songs about death, cemeteries and all things gothic.  In fact, think of them as goth opera.  The music is as cold and stark as winter snow on a marble headstone.  

Now the rough part about this band for many here in the States is that their songs are sung in French.  For my Canadian brethren, this may not pose a problem at all (Susan Tate, I'm looking at you).  For the rest of us, it's well worth your time to look up a translation or two if you want to get creeped out.  For instance, take the lyrics to the song "Reve Mortuaire" which translates to Mortuary Dream.

Sleep, sleep, little angel, and dream of Death
Sleep, sleep, little angel, tomorrow shall you be dead
Sleep, sleep, little angel, tomorrow shan't you live anymore
Sleep, sleep, little angel, tomorrow shall I be there
Sleep, sleep, little angel, sleep and dream of me.

See what I mean?  This stuff is Dark with a capital "D".


3.  The Pine Hill Haints

Okay, enough with this classical/electronic music stuff.  We want some roots based Halloween music!  Well, look no further than The Pine Hill Haints.  This band hails from Alabama and describes what they do as "Alabama ghost music".  Expect traditional instruments like mandolin, guitar, washboard and even accordion on occasion.  My favorite though is when the "singing saw" comes out.  Their lyrics run the gamut from ghostly trains to wanting to be a "Jack O'Fire" as in the clip above.  This band gets played on my iPod year round.


4.  Dr. John

So you don't want something as classy as the first two but you don't want traditional roots music either?  It's time for an American icon: Dr. John.  There may be no cooler man alive than Dr. John.  A New Orleans jazz giant if ever there was one, Dr. John's voodoo/rootwork imagery goes beyond just the way he carries himself.  If you listen to the lyrics of the song above (Walk on Gilded Splinters), you'll hear him referencing all kinds of folk magic terms as he sings about putting the hex on his enemies and wonders aloud, "Did I murder?"  His album Gris-Gris is a marvelous concoction of blues, jazz and voodoo imagery.  I highly, highly recommend this!


5.  The Cramps

So I lied. Of course The Cramps are going to be on this list.  I'm not sure there's another band out there who captures the fun, the goofy and the dangerous side of Halloween better than The Cramps. Above is a link to a live version of "TV Set".  It's an uplifting song about how lead singer, Lux Interior, is going to cut you up and use your body parts as accessories for different appliances around his house.  It's actually a very funny song despite the grotesque imagery.  Unfortunately, Lux died during a show in 2009.  His wife, Poison Ivy (the red-haired guitarist seen on the right of the stage), rightfully decided that the band could not go on without him.  

Even though The Cramps are no more, you can still access the entire concert above right at this link.  If you decide to search further though, just be aware that you may come across Lux wearing fishnets, heels and electrical tape while performing.  Pushing boundaries was one of the guiding forces behind this band, but that's for another music post at another time.

For now, that's it for this Five Bands post.  Let me know what your favorite "Halloween" bands are!

P.S.  After writing this post, the first album I put on was Dr. John's Gris-Gris.  Just sayin'!

Don't forget you can pick up my novel The Wash either as an ebook for Kindle or one of those old timey paper versions exclusively at Amazon!

6/23/15

Retro!  Five Bands Vol. 2 - Artists who are Batshit Insane

(updated from the original published post on DVDinmypants.com)

Real rock and roll has always been the music of the rebellious. As such, it has attracted artists who live their lives creatively and literally on the edge. For every “down to Earth” rock star like Dave Grohl, there are easily four more who would rather refer to themselves as “The Artist” and who want pink toilet paper in the hotel bathroom, not because they can get away with asking for it but because they truly believe it is partially responsible for the proper flow of their creative juices.

Now making outlandish demands and telling people to lower their eyes when talking to you does not necessarily make you “batshit insane”. That’s a title that is actually kind of hard to come by. It’s what sets apart the eccentric artist from the dangerous, “don’t leave him alone with live animals” artist. When I saw someone is batshit insane, I don’t mean they refuse to put an album out because they have self-confidence issues (Axl Rose). I mean there’s a distinct possibility that if the soundcheck doesn’t go right, they could literally take a hostage.

I love batshit insane people who play music. I don’t like actually being in bands with them, mind you. They’re really annoying to deal with on that level, but watching them from the sidelines is never less than entertaining. You go to any concert featuring a band member who's thinking is cock-eyed and while you’ll probably hear a less than stellar performance, there’s always the chance of a pubic hair fire and ranting about grasshoppers. 

Here, take my own personal experience.  You may walk up to the front of the club a little early to find some guy curled up on the ground in front of the door, soaking in his own urine and asking you for a “cigarette to chew” (which he promptly did when given one). Then you may see him a couple of hours later front a killer band onstage and afterwards, he may walk up to your date and talk with her lucidly and eloquently for 10 solid minutes about plays by Ibsen all the while smelling like piss and alcohol.

The band was Smoke. The singer was Benjamin. I’m pretty sure he’s dead now, but damn if he wasn’t electrifying on stage.

What follows is a list of five artists who definitely qualify as “batshit insane”.  Some of them don't necessarily deserve celebration.  However you can't make a list like this and leave these people off.  You may not agree with my picks and if so, feel free to let me know who you think I missed.

1. Lee “Scratch” Perry

Really, there is absolutely no denying that this man leads the pack of the batshit insane. He’s a total and complete lunatic who also happens to be a production genius and a pioneer musically. Perry once burned his own legendary Black Ark studio to the ground because he thought it was possessed by Satan himself. Think about that. He found gasoline and matches and burned the invading spirits out of his studio. Still don’t think he qualifies? What about the time he stayed in the US with a prominent record producer, rounded up all the televisions in the house and proceeded to bury them in the back yard? How about the times he baptized people on the street outside his studio with a garden hose?

That, folks, is what I mean by “batshit insane”. Now, he’s 79 years old and in a much more stable frame of mind. He lives in Switzerland with his wife and children and is still actively writing and performing.

2. Mayhem 

 Yeah, pretty much the entire band belongs on this list. At least their original lineup does. Mayhem were really the first band to bring Norwegian Black Metal to a wide audience and part o the reason their reputation spread was because they were such complete lunatics. All the members were obsessed with being the most evil band on the planet. In true “evil” fashion they turned on one another. The first victim was lead singer, Dead, who decided this world was too much for him. He shot himself in the head and when guitarist Euronymous found him, he didn’t call the police. No, instead he took some pictures, picked up some pieces of Dead’s skull and ate a small piece of Dead’s brain. He brought the skull pieces back to the band’s drummer, Hellhammer (no,I’m not making these names up), who fashioned some jewelry out of them and wears them still. That’s not all though. Because of the brain eating thing, Euronymous got quite the reputation as a bad ass, so in a fit of jealousy (”I want to be most evil!”) bass player Count Grishnackh stabbed him over 20 times. In fact, Grishnackh later testified that he counted the 20 times on purpose because he wanted to out do another Black Metaller who was on trial for stabbing a complete stranger repeatedly.

All this and much more can be found in a great book called Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Soderlind. As for their music, point your sights to De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas if you’re curious. Try not to kill anybody finding it.

3. Jaz Coleman 

This guy is one of my favorites. The lead singer/leader of Killing Joke, Jaz is one crazy son of a bitch. He’s one of these guys who is super smart, but is also subject to flights of weirdness and odd belief that will make your head spin. He moved to Iceland in the early 1980’s to await the end of the world. It didn’t come but he worked with the band that would eventually become the Sugarcubes so it wasn’t a complete waste of time. Still, moving to another country to await the apocalypse wouldn’t seem so weird in itself, except that he was kind enough to leave us a full length album where he detailed his beliefs in black magic and why he thought the world would end soon. That was nice of him wasn’t it? It’s a Killing Joke album called The Courtauld Talks. It was recorded after his return and it consist of one continuous track where Coleman talks about demonology, the imminent return of The Elder Gods and why he things H.P. Lovecraft wasn’t writing fiction but was channeling a voice from beyond. During his talk, he’s backed by Killing Joke, although the music mostly consists of soft guitar and percussion. There’s a really incredible part where he talks about how by using musical chords constructed from numerological studies, we can help drive back the demons we’re unintentionally awaking through war and violence. He demonstrates… ‘nuff said.

For the record, insanity aside Killing Joke has made some of the best post-punk records in the history of the genre and their resurgence in the 2000’s has them hitting a new high mark. If that’s your kind of music, check out their 2003 self-titled comeback album or the unstoppable 2010 album Absolute Dissent. Meanwhile, have no fear. Coleman still believes Cthulu is coming any minute and I’m sure he’s praying to be eaten first.

4. G.G. Allin

This guy was a given for this list. Did you know his actual given name was Jesus Christ? See… crazy runs in the family. Allin made a name for himself by shocking audiences and critics. His act was banned from many a town across this great land of ours and each time he played, the word got out to a few more people who suddenly craved an opportunity to see him. Allin would take the stage in a jockstrap and proceed to urinate on audience members during the set. He’d been known to defecate in his hand and throw it at the audience. He even tried (unsuccessfully) to have sex with a dead cat during a performance. He was a pen pal of John Wayne Gacy (the notorious serial killer). He did the talk show circuit and once told Sally Jesse Raphael that he was the father of the girl who was accompanying him and that they practiced incest. It was completely fabricated (Allin had one daughter who “distanced herself from the family” for obvious reasons). I saw this episode and watching the audience and hosts reactions were hilarious.

Needless to say, Allin was bent on shocking people. That much is obvious, but the fact that he lived exactly like he performed qualifies him for true “batshit insane” status. This was not an act. He really was one of the most disturbed and disgusting performers in the history of rock and roll. Allin died of a drug overdose and was buried in New Hampshire wearing a jockstrap that said “Eat Me”.

If you want to experience G.G. Allin, then don’t look to CDs. Get the documentary Hated and you’ll get a great look at what this guy was like. As for music, stick with the compilation Expose Yourself: The Singles Collection 1977-1991. 


5. Captain Beefheart

Now the great thing about Captain Beefheart is that he wasn’t violent crazy like many of the people mentioned above. No, he was old-fashioned, out-of-his-gourd, eccentric to the nth level crazy. Case in point, while rehearsing for his famous Trout Mask Replica album (of which I have a near mint condition vinyl copy… just sayin’…) he surrounded himself with an accomplished band and literally locked them into a house for eight months. During that time, no one was allowed to leave. Food was brought in weekly. Beefheart would try to communicate the songs he was hearing in his head via humming or piano. Here’s the batshit insane part. He couldn’t play piano and when the musicians couldn’t properly interpret his vision, he would explode in fits of rage.

He was very strict about his vision, to the point of being a tyrant. The results though were never less than interesting and many times they were pure genius. He also made it a point to confuse the press and public as much as possible, once telling Rolling Stone that he himself taught two of the musicians on Trout Mask Replica how to play their instruments “from scratch”. In fact, they were both more than fluent when he hired them.

Beefheart was a hands down musical genius, but it’s my opinion that the insanity fed the genius in this case. He died in 2010 at the age of 69.

There are loads more artists I could list, but most of them seem to get their “crazy” from drugs or alcohol. These five seem to come by theirs naturally, so that’s why they’re featured. If you think I should add one, hit me up on the comments.

6/18/15

FIVE BANDS - Vol. 1 - My Top 5 Favorite New Finds

Years ago, I wrote a column for a website called DVDinmypants.com.  It was called Five Bands and each post would feature five artists who fit some theme.  It was one of my favorite things to write about so I'm resurrecting it.   

When Mike sent my head spinning with that Bloodshot Records compilation, I came home and started digging deep into their catalog and for every artist I found on their label, I found two or sometimes three more connected to Bloodshot in some way but on another label. The result was a staggering amount of new (to me) artists that I’m still exploring.

For this inaugural Five Bands, let’s talk about the five artists who blew my mind more than any others over the last two years.

1. Lydia Loveless

More Like Them

Lydia Loveless does not sing modern country music. She does not sing traditional country music. She’s hard to define and that’s exactly why I love her. She has the voice of a seasoned country superstar packaged in the body of a punk rock loving teenager and the results are pure, unadulterated magic. That she writes her own material makes it even better. That she’ll cover a song like Elvis Costello’s “Alison” for her Record Store Day release ups the ante even more. Each new album has been five steps better than the last one but my personal favorite is Indestructible Machine.  I cannot wait to see where she ends up being in the pantheon of music in 20 years. Check out “More Like Them” to get a taste.  It's equal parts Neko Case and The Replacements, plus if you listen to the lyrics you’ll hear her examining her real life issue of social anxiety in a way that’s smart and even funny in places. 

2. Patty Griffin

Chief

Truth #2

This one is a much more traditional sound.  That voice of Lydia Loveless that I spoke about? Patty Griffin has it also but it’s packaged in the seasoned mind and body of an expert in her craft. She writes songs that tell stories in ways that I couldn’t tell if given 10,000 words. If you don’t believe me, just listen to “Chief” or “Making Pies” from the album 1000 Kisses. That it took me this long to discover her makes me sad, and the way I found her was so out of the ordinary it was pure luck. 

I’d heard a song by The Dixie Chicks called “Truth #2”. I went to look up the album it was from and found they didn’t write it. Who is this Patty Griffin person? So I go to look for the song on iTunes and it looks like she never recorded it. That’s odd because it’s an amazing song. I dig a little deeper and soon I find that this song is from a lost album she recorded for A&M and they shelved. So then I pull out the big freakin’ steam shovel and scoop down further to finally find a bootleg copy of the studio album. The rest is history and accounts for about sixty songs on my iPod. The good news is that album (Silver Bell) finally got an official release so you can find a much better mix on iTunes now. Check out “Truth #2” and tell me that chorus isn’t pure genius. Then check out any of her other fine albums. You won’t be disappointed. 

3. Findlay

Off & On

A freakin’ car commercial helped me discover this band. My family is an Olympics obsessed family. Every two years, we’re glued to the television and internet while the games are on and that means we can’t avoid the commercial. During the 2014 Winter Olympics, the song “Off & On” was played probably 5,000 times in a commercial for either BMW or Mercedes or something. That’s not important. I can’t endorse the car. What I can endorse is you finding their EP Off & On. It’s the only thing they’ve officially released so far and I love all four songs on it. The stop, slow, speed up, sprint pace of the title track is what sold me but there’s so much great stuff here. Also, for what it's worth this is the only band on this list that my daughter also endorses. 

4. Dave Alvin

Signal Hill

He was the guitar player in The Blasters and the writer of their biggest hit “Marie Marie”. That song has become iconic and has transcended musical styles and genres. He’s got a distinctive voice but what sets him apart in my mind is his songwriting. Like Patty Griffin he can tell a story musically that rivals the greatest novelists of all time. Plus his catalog goes all the way back to 1987 so there’s a ton here to explore. He wrote one of my favorite late-period X songs (”4th of July”) as well as one of my favorite Dwight Yoakam songs (”Long White Cadillac”). Check out “Signal Hill”, a bruiser of a song from the extended edition of the album Eleven Eleven.  It's about lost dreams and losers in a town my old band used to play regularly.

5. Bobby Bare Jr.

Let's Rock and Roll

And here’s the artist who sent me down that Bloodshot rabbit hole. The son of an iconic country artist, Bobby Bare Jr. defies description. His song “Let’s Rock and Roll” is equal parts nursery rhyme, noise fest and pop song. At the same time, it’s the most accurate portrayal of an unknown artist playing music on the road I’ve ever heard. His album Boo-Tay under the Bare Jr. moniker is alt-country awesome, while his solo albums defy labeling but are even better. Below is the video for the song that would not leave my head after watching that Bloodshot tribute. 

Thanks Mike and thank you also Bobby Bare Jr. Maybe someday I’ll be able to shake your hand and thank you in person.